Celestial Heartbeat
by ShanaHollows
Summary: A new mission...Great idea, right? Afterall, it would pay for her rent for 6 whole months. But suddenly, Team Natsu find themselves on the run. Lucy's life is about to change...drastically. And Natsu will follow her to ends of Earthland to bring her home. Contains implied lemons, some swearing, and tragic moments. DISCLAIMER: Don't own Fairy Tail! Don't own the characters!
1. Chapter 1

"Lucy!" Natsu yelled, hopping through the window of her apartment, "We've gotta mission - let's go!"

Lucy was relaxing in a deep bubble bath, cucumbers on her eyes, "Seriously, Natsu...It can wait for 1/2 hour."

Unabashfully, the bathroom door flung open and the dragon slayer stomped in. Lucy screamed, sinking under the suds, cucumbers disappearing off her eyes and into the water with her body. He sat beside the tub and played absently with the bubbles, ignoring her blushing face as she sunk deeper to prevent him from seeing her naked.

"What's the mission?" she asked, realizing she was in no position to Lucy kick him, so the most effective way of getting him out of her sight was simply to acknowledge what he wanted, then tell him to leave.

"It's an artifact retrieval," he said, "Ice prick and Erza are coming, but Happy is going to stay with Carla. HUGE reward."

Her ears perked up, "As in how huge?"

He smiled at her knowingly, picking up bubbles with 2 fingers and plopping them on her nose, "As in you won't have to worry about rent money for 6 months!"

She grinned, forgetting to discipline him for crashing her bath, "I'm in! Now get out so I can get dressed and packed. When do we leave?"

"Now!" he called out, leaving the bathroom, "We're meeting at the train station in 30 minutes. I'm gonna be in the kitchen making sandwiches while I'm waiting for you."

"DON'T EAT ALL MY FOOD!" she yelled after him. She shook her head. She knew there was no point in telling him that. Of course, recently, Natsu and Happy had been dividing their reward money a little differently, allowing an amount to be set aside for Lucy to spend on groceries at her house. The amount was in fact large enough that Lucy did not have to worry about her grocery bill at all anymore. He essentially was paying for her groceries too.

She got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself, making her way to her bedroom to get dressed.

"Wuce! Wu wanna wandwich?" Natsu yelled, mouth obviously filled.

"Sure!" she yelled back, selecting clothes fit for a mission. She packed a small bag in case it ended up being an overnighter, secured her keys to her side, and pulled her long hair up into a braided ponytail that reached her waist. She rather liked her longer hair. More than that, she knew Natsu liked it. When he'd come back from training for the year, he'd spend hours laying on her lap, playing with her hair when they watched movies and what-not.

It had taken roughly 6 months to rebuild the guild hall. Natsu had come for her in Crocus, left the infamous calling card, and escorted her back to Magnolia to welcome the incoming guild members, ready to rebuild life at Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail was now as strong as ever, even with the minor changes to the members. Such as: Elfman and Evergreen married and had a little boy, Juvia and Gray were dating. Erza had only just returned to the guild after joining Crime Sorciere for a year. She and Jellal were official now. Natsu and Lucy had regained their closeness and some, but were still dancing around each other's true feelings.

He brought the sandwich to her,

"This is good," she praised, swallowing a bite, "So what's the hurry, anyway? Why do we have to leave now?"

"The job description said urgent. Specifically asked for a celestial mage and supporting team."

"What's the artifact?" Lucy asked, munching down the sandwich.

"Dunno," Natsu replied.

Of course not. Grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, she indicated she was ready to go. She looked at the apartment as she went to close the door, taking it all in. She loved her apartment. So many great memories there.

"You okay?" Natsu asked impatiently.

"Yeah," she breathed out, not sure where the nostalgia wave that hit her came from. She locked her apartment up and proceeded to the train station with her best friend.

"Did you pop your pills?" she asked Natsu.

"Ya," he said, "but I still want to use your lap. It always calms me."

She rolled her eyes. The pills essentially eliminated Natsu's motion sickness. Even she knew that the head on the lap wasn't actually necessary. But if she were honest with herself, the act calmed her too. She waved to Gray and Erza as they approached their gate to the train.

"Took you long enough, Flame Brain!" Gray chucked his bag at Natsu, hitting him in the gut.

"ICE BASTARD!"

Erza smacked Natsu upside the head, "Enough!"

Natsu rubbed his tender head, "Geez Erz...I didn't even have a chance to hit him."

They boarded the train and began the 8 hour trip to their job.

* * *

Stepping off the train in the city, Kahling, Natsu fell to the ground, kissing it. He had been fine while the effect of the pills he took lasted, however, inevitably they wore off and the last 4 hours of the trip were pure hell for him. Erza offered to take pity on him and knock him flat out, but instead, he stretched out on Lucy's lap and allowed her to pamper him.

"Okay...so where is this place?" Lucy asked Erza, glancing over the taller girl's shoulder as she examined the job advertisement at a picnic table.

"If I'm not mistaken," Erza said carefully, "It's a kilometre behind us."

"Well, let's go!" Gray said, "If we go see the client now, we can get a hotel and get started first thing in the morning."

They walked down the road to the address on the card and stood back as Erza knocked the gigantic knocker. It was an older style brick manor, rather large. Cob webs graced the windows.

"It's creepy," Lucy whispered to Natsu.

He smiled slightly, dropping an arm around her waist, "It's fine. We're not doing the mission here. Whatever artifact they have us grabbing, it will be in a _much_ creepier place."

She playfully smacked his arm away just as the door opened. An old man dressed in a tuxedo answered. He didn't say anything, creeping out the small group a bit more.

"We're the Fairy Tail wizards that accepted the job you posted," Erza said, showing the job card.

"Come in," he said with a thick English accent, "Don't touch anything and follow me."

The four mages followed the still-nameless gentleman down a dark hall to a large room with a couch. The walls were library-like with tons of books. Lucy's eyes lit up at all the books, but obediently sat on the couch with her comrades.

"Duke Antoine will be here in a moment," the man said. Lucy wondered if he was the butler. He didn't take the time to give them a name.

The four sat on the couch silently as time ticked. Almost a half hour later, another elderly gentleman walked into the room, taking the chair opposite them. He didn't say anything for a moment as he looked over the wizards.

"And one of you is the celestial wizard?" he said by way of greeting.

"That would be me," Lucy said nervously, extending a hand in greeting, "I'm Lucy. These are my nakama: Natsu, Erza, and Gray."

The gentleman nodded, not introducing himself or taking her offered hand to shake as he continued, "The artifact is this."

Out of nowhere, a virtual picture of an egg-like item appeared in mid-air. It was golden in colour with some kind of metal outlining it.

"What is it?" Natsu asked.

The man glared at him, "That's none of your business. You're hired to get it for me. You will find it 3 km up Sunspree Mountain in a cave. Get it for me, the jewel is yours."

"With all due respect," Erza interjected, "We need to ensure what we're doing is legal. What is the artifact?"

A shadow crossed over his face as he turned, nostrils flaring, "And I told _you_ , it's none of your business. I assure you it's legal. But you must be warned, only a Celestial wizard can touch the artifact. And you _must be careful_! Wrap it in something so it won't break. And whatever you do, don't try to open it."

Gray's brows furrowed, "I don't like it," he stated, "You want us to waltz in and take something you obviously can't go get for yourself without any reasonable explanation as to what we're retrieving for you."

"You can take the job or leave it," the gentleman said, "But if you're going to leave it, I suggest getting out of town immediately."

The four looked at each other. This was beyond strange.

"Very good then. I suppose since none of you have left, you accept. You will stay at the Kahling Inn. Rooms have been booked for you. Make sure you leave at sunrise."

The man got up and left the room, leaving the four mages staring awkwardly at each other.

"I guess...we can go?" Lucy asked.

"Guess so," Gray said, stretching his arms out, "As quickly as possible please."


	2. Chapter 2

None of the mages felt good about this job. They found the Kahling Inn and approached the desk, realizing they had no clue what the reservation would be under.

"We're wizards from Fairy Tail," Erza said to the clerk, "Reservations have been made for -"

"Erza Scarlet, Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, and Lucy Heartfelia, yes?" the clerk finished. She laid out 4 room keys.

"Ok...that's super creepy," Natsu mumbled on their way to their rooms, "The dude never introduced himself, but he knew who we were."

"Not just that," Gray opened his hotel room door, "He wouldn't tell us what he's sending us after...or why he couldn't do it himself."

Erza nodded, "I don't like it, but we've committed ourselves now. Everyone's guard needs to be up...even now. I don't like anything about this. Let's put our bags in the rooms and go find some dinner."

Nodding to her, they each disappeared into their room. The rooms were 2 on each side of the hall. Erza and Lucy were on one side, Natsu and Gray on the other.

Lucy entered her room, noting the dinginess of it. There was a queen sized bed that looked clean enough, but the walls were kind of yellow and peeling. She felt very on edge. Grabbing her purse, she went for the door to catch up to the others when Loke appeared in a ball of light.

"Loke!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"Lucy," he said hurriedly, "I can't talk long, so listen carefully."

His voice was low, as if he thought someone was listening. Now that she thought about it, she could feel a heavy, ominous presence.

"DO go get the artifact tomorrow," Loke told her, holding her both shoulders, "but whatever you do, don't give it to Antoine. You need to summon me as soon as you've got it and let me take it."

"Why?"

There was a blinding flash of light. Lucy felt herself falling over and screamed at the top of her lungs. As fast as the light came, it was gone. So was Loke.

"LUCY!?" Lucy heard banging at the door, "LUCY! WHAT'S GOING ON IN THERE!?"

She got up from the floor and went to the door, still feeling a bit watched, "I'm okay, Natsu. Let's just go, okay?"

"No way, Luce! You yelled! What's going -?"

He paused, catching the look of fear in her eyes, "Okay Luce. I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

He made eye contact with her as he brought his arm around her waist protectively, leading her out of the room. They met up with Gray and Erza. One look from him rendered the other two silent as they left the building. Lucy felt the tension ease almost as soon as they left.

"What the hell is going on?" Gray asked.

Natsu's arm was still around Lucy's waist, "I don't know, but something happened to Lucy just now. And whatever it was, was watching her."

She nodded, "Let's eat on the _other_ side of town. I still feel watched."

20 minutes later, they were seated at an outside table on the deck of a restaurant, away from ears from what they could tell. Lucy recanted what happened in the hotel room moments ago. Each wizard was lost in their own thoughts. This mission was getting stranger and stranger.

"And you're sure it was an actual presence you felt?" Erza asked Lucy, tapping her fingers on the table rhythmically. It was a nervous habit.

"Yes," Lucy confirmed, "And I didn't fall over. Whatever that light was, it knocked me over and when it was gone, so was Loke."

"You should call Loke out now," Gray suggested, "Maybe if we're away from that place, he'll be able to tell you more."

Lucy reached for her keys, then paused. Her face twisted in disgust as she pulled her keys out. An ugly black tar was dripping off the keys. The hardened tar made it impossible for her to separate the keys, let alone call Loke out.

"Call for him!" Natsu suggested, "Loke doesn't need to be summoned by you. He can come on his own."

Lucy nodded, standing up from the table, "Loke, I need you! Please come out!"

Nothing happened.

Lucy looked at her friends with a panicked look on her face, "Where in the hell is he? This isn't funny! Maybe we SHOULD get on the next train and get the hell outta here!"

"We can't leave for at least a day," Erza said, "The train only comes once a day. The earliest we could leave is 6:00 tomorrow night."

"What if I tried to melt the tar off?" Natsu asked, examining her tarred keys, "Maybe then you can call them out."

"I don't want you to hurt my spirits," Lucy rejected the idea.

"I won't," Natsu looked hurt, "I'll just melt the tar off. I won't even touch the keys."

"It's worth a try," Gray said.

Lucy moved over to the corner of the deck, Natsu crouching beside her. He lit his hands up and gently heated the keys, being careful not to hurt Lucy. Nothing happened.

"Freeze the tar off?" Erza suggested.

"I don't think it'll work," Lucy said quietly, "I think whatever that light was, it effectively rendered my keys useless."

The others nodded in agreement.

"You've got your whip, right?" Natsu asked Lucy, "I don't want you sleeping alone tonight. Whatever it was came after you once already. You should sleep in my room."

That earned him a slap on the head from Erza, "She will sleep in _my_ room! I don't know what's going on here, but I think the sooner we can get out of here, the better. Maybe we _should_ go get the artifact tomorrow. Something is wrong here. Very wrong. And whatever that artifact represents, we need to get to the bottom of it."

Natsu scowled at Erza behind her back. As if Lucy would rather sleep with her than him. Everyone knew Natsu and Lucy shared a bed almost every night. He never crossed any lines (not that hadn't thought about it), but they would often cuddle.

"But what do we do with it once we have it?" Lucy asked, "Loke said not to give it to Antoine."

 _Oh right...the artifact_. Natsu thought, returning to the present conversation.

"Erza's right," Gray said, "Whatever it is, we need to get it before someone else does. At least in our hands, we can figure it out and deal with it instead of letting it fall into the wrong hands."

"Okay," Lucy agreed, "He said sunrise. Guess that means we'd better get to bed."

Lucy moved into Erza's room, sharing the queen sized bed with her. Erza was not good at sleeping with others. Lucy had heard the boys teasing Jellal about it multiple times. It was true. The Titannia took up most of the bed, tossing regularly and Lucy found herself unable to sleep on the 4" of bed allotted to her. She wasn't a large person, but it also wasn't comfortable.

It bothered her. The ball of light. Loke's disappearance. The mysteriousness of the old men at the old house. She was uneasy as hell, even though she didn't sense the presence she had earlier in the night.

In the other two rooms, Natsu and Gray laid awake too.


	3. Chapter 3

The morning came far too early. At the first sign of daybreak, the four started their 3 km journey up the mountain.

"If this artifact is only 3 km up the mountain, what's stopping _anyone_ from going to get it?" Natsu wondered.

It wouldn't be long to figure it out. They came across the entrance to a cave at exactly the 3 km mark. There was a large stone in front of it, covered in markings.

Gray and Natsu cracked their knuckles, attempting to move it with brute strength. It didn't take long to realize that it wouldn't work.

Lucy leaned forward to examine the markings, "These are Celestial markings," she said slowly.

"The Celestials have their own language?" Gray asked.

She nodded, "But I'm not very good at deciphering it. Sure wish Levy was here."

Erza unburied the lacrima in her backpack and called up Fairy Tail, asking for Levy. They drew the lacrima back, giving Levy a good picture of the rock face.

"It's a gate," Levy confirmed, "but I'm not great in Celestial text either. I can make out 'Celestial Princess' and 'glory'...and it looks like the word 'summon'. Give me a few minutes, guys."

While Levy worked on the translation, Lucy showed Cana and Master her keys.

"I don't know what to say," Master said slowly, "except please be very careful, my children. I'm as uneasy as you are about this."

Freed studies the rock with Levy now in the background.

"Have you tried placing your hands in those triangles?" Mira asked. It was the first time any of them had noticed the triangular markings. In fact, Lucy could swear they weren't there a moment ago.

"The keys...Cana said slowly, reading her cards, "The spirits are fine, but they're panicked. They're trapped in the Celestial world and can't get to you. They're safe though. Something bad is going to happen soon."

"Who do we give the artifact to if we can get to it?" Erza asked.

Cana spread new cards out, flipping the last over carefully, "Not that man," she confirmed.

"Can you do a reading on him?" Natsu asked, "Dude Anthony or something like that?"

" _Duke Antoine,_ " Gray supplied with an eye roll.

Cana sprawled her cards out once more, her eyes widening, "Oh my Mavis."

Instantly, everyone stopped. Freed and Levy glanced backward at her. Master moved closer. Erza, Gray and Natsu leaned closer to the lacrima.

"What is it?" Lucy asked slowly, unsure if she wanted to know.

"Duke Antoine," Cana said slowly, "He's not human...he's a demon."

Everyone went silent in shock.

"Why would a demon want a light artifact?" Gray wondered.

Levy bounded up to the lacrima, holding out a book with a picture on it.

"Is this the artifact?" she asked.

Everyone nodded. It was the same as the holographic image the old man had shown them.

"This is the starlight egg," Levy said, "It's the only one in the world. It houses a celestial being that was locked away by a demon centuries ago."

"What celestial being?" Lucy asked.

"That's all the information that's here about the egg itself," Levy paused, scanning the book, "But it says here that the demon Anwick sealed it away to prevent the being from rejoining the Celestial world," she looked up to the lacrima, "He buried it never to be seen again."

"That makes no sense," Erza said slowly, "This egg was literally 3 km up a mountain close to a town...that's hardly buried away."

"Except Kahling is a reasonably new town," Master cut in, "It's less than a century old. They cut away parts of the mountain to create the valley in which it's situated. I remember when they did it - they created the town for mining purposes. After the mining and the removal of mountain face, they may have inadvertently exposed the rock face hiding the artifact."

"Can you run a history on Antoine?" Gray asked, "Even if he's a demon, there must be some documentation on him."

"There's nothing," Levy said after several minutes of scanning, "And other than the name Anwick, there's no more to the story."

"Well then!" Lucy sighed, stepping closer to the rock, "Nothing left to do but move this boulder."

"We'll keep in touch," Erza said to the lacrima before shutting it off and placing it in her backpack.

Glancing nervously at her companions, Lucy reached out with her hands and placed them into the mysterious triangles. The rock began to glow. With horror, Lucy realized her hands were being absorbed into the rock.

"NO!" Natsu yelled, grabbing her waist to attempt to pull her back. Lucy's body illuminated with light and repelled Natsu, sending him flying several feet.

Lucy, oddly, was not panicking. The rock continued to absorb her until she was completely gone.

"What...the...hell?" Gray stuttered. The 3 wizards looked at each other, unsure of what to think.

Natsu slammed his hands into the triangles, only to be met with solid rock.

"LUCY!" Erza yelled.

Gray slammed into the rock again with an ice shield. The shield shattered on contact. Natsu threw a Dragon Roar, which simply dissipated on the rock. Erza re-equipped into her Nakagami Armour and attempted the slice the rock apart, but again, nothing happened.

"We can't get in," Erza breathed

There was no response. No evidence that Lucy was alive or otherwise. No way into the rock. Lucy was on her own.

* * *

Inside the rockface, Lucy found herself in complete darkness. She felt through her backpack until she found the flashlight she carried, praying the batteries weren't dead. Thankfully, the light shone enough that she could see somewhat.

The lack of life in the cave was oddly unnerving. She'd expected maybe spiders or bats or (god forbid) snakes to be lining the freakishly small tunnel, but it was completely devoid of life. There weren't even cobwebs. She shuddered, wishing she could have pulled Natsu or Gray through with her.

"Okay, Princess," She said out loud, "Time to put your big girl panties on. You can do this."

She edged down the path carefully. It seemed to go on forever. She estimated some half hour later, she finally came to an open room. The movies always had artifacts encased in shrines or a golden casket or some kind of booby-trapped alter. There was nothing like that in this room. It was as untouched as the path leading in.

"What am I looking for?" She wondered out loud again, shining the light around the otherwise pitch-black room.

It was a tiny room, maybe 6 ft across and 5 feet up. She had to stoop a bit, refusing to go to her knees due to the sharp rocks strewn about the cave floor.

She glanced about for around 10 minutes before finally seeing the dull glint in the rocks on the edge of the cave. Taking a deep breath and feeling extremely claustrophobic, she ventured toward the slight glint. She put the flashlight in her teeth to hold it on the object as she reached to dig it out with her hands.

There it was. It looked more like a vase than an egg to her at first, until she'd dug it out enough that she could hold it in her hands. It was small and very dull. It didn't look golden at all, but then it was covered in dirt.

"Hello Mystery Spirit," she said softly, "I don't know who you are, but I wish I had a sign that it's the right thing to do to bring you up."

She shuddered suddenly.

 _What if it's not the right thing to do? What if this artifact is better left here, protected since it was obvious only a Celestial Wizard could come here? What if by bringing it to the outside world she unleashed a horror that would end the world?_

She shook her head. Celestial beings weren't evil. The egg itself would not harm the world. It was more likely the demons after it would harm the world. Even though the egg had stayed safe here for Heavens only know how long, she knew a demon wanted it. If Lucy left it here, he'd find someone else to get it for him. That was another strange thought. She and Yukino were the only two Celestial Wizards that she knew about, other than Hisui. Yukino had married Sting about a year back and rarely used her magic anymore and she couldn't remember that Hisui had any spirits at all.

"I need a sign," she said out loud again, "I don't want to bring you up and unwittingly end the world."

She waited. The egg did not move, it did not shine, it didn't offer any kind of sign that she would consider an affirmative answer.

She remembered Loke's partial warning before he'd disappeared with the flash of light, _"DO go get the artifact tomorrow, but whatever you do, don't give it to Antoine. You need to summon me as soon as you've got it and let me take it."_

"Loke," she whispered, bringing out her tarred keys, "Loke, please tell me what to do. I couldn't summon you if I _wanted_ to now."

Her tarred keys didn't offer any comfort either, so Lucy finally sighed, wrapped the egg up in a small blanket she'd brought for the occasion, and started the trek back up the small cavern.


	4. Chapter 4

Natsu was in full-on panic mode, "It's been an _hour_!" he yelled, kicking at some bushes, "Where the hell is she? I say we blast away from the rock - maybe over there!" He pointed further up on the mountain, "Maybe we can't get through this rock, but maybe we can go around it and get it a different route!"

"Shut UP!" Gray moaned, leaning back on a rock and covering his eyes with his arm. He was sick of the dragon slayer's constant whining. He was worried about Lucy too, but they'd done everything they could think of to gain access to the tunnel Lucy had disappeared in and nothing they had done even budged the rock slightly. It was obviously a magically protected rock and only Celestial wizards could pass. They weren't going to get into the cave through _any_ side of the mountain.

Beside Gray's perch on the uncomfortable rock, Erza stood, sharpening her sword, "Gray is right, Natsu. Sit down and shut up. We need to be patient. Lucy will back."

"How can you SAY that?" Natsu yelled, "She's been gone for an hour! We have no way to tell if she's in danger or if she's knocked out or if some vicious _thing_ is attacking her! What if she doesn't come back? What if she's just _gone_ and we're just sitting here doing nothing?!"

Gray gave Natsu a glaring shake of his head, "Do you have no faith in her? Lucy is a completely capable, strong wizardress. She wouldn't have gone in there if she couldn't handle it. Look what she did during Tartaros and tell me she won't handle whatever is in there."

Defeated, Natsu sat back against the rock with his comrades.

"I'm sorry," he said after several moments, "I have _every faith in her_. I know she's okay. She's Lucy. But I can't help it. I feel the same way you would if it were Juvia or Jellal."

Erza snickered. She would actually not be worried about Jellal at all. But she knew where Natsu was coming from. Natsu had changed a bit after almost losing Lucy during Tartaros. Actually, it went back further than that...maybe when the future Lucy had died? She didn't know when, but she _did_ know that Natsu had changed. Lucy brought out the best in Natsu. She gave him a reason to be cautious instead of reckless. She was often the reason that Natsu left the guild at night instead of causing more fights. She was one of the few in the guild unafraid of him enough to talk him down when he was being ridiculous. And no matter what...NO MATTER WHAT...she stuck to him loyally. Even when END was trying to take over, she remained unafraid. She addressed Natsu instead of END and ultimately, it was she who drove him from Natsu's body. Erza, Gray, and the other guild members were not blind, no matter how oblivious Natsu was...Natsu Dragneel was hopelessly in love with Lucy.

Gray flashed a knowing grin at Erza. He felt the same way about his own woman. Juvia was capable and smart and witty. He would worry about her to a point, but there was nothing she couldn't handle. After Tartaros, Gray had finally admitted how much he needed Juvia. During the year that the guild had disbanded, they had done some serious soul searching together. Gray finally made the move and made Juvia his girlfriend.

"Something's happening..." Erza said suddenly, standing up and glancing around her.

She was right. The air had suddenly changed. It was a deep, dark, and ominous feeling.

As if on cue, dark clouds began to brew directly above them. All 3 wizards were on their feet down, glancing around nervously. Shadows began flitting along the landscape.

"Demons," Gray whispered, his arm lighting up in the black tattoo, "They're everywhere! Get ready!"

They stood back to back in a small circle, ready to attack if the demons were to start something. The demons were materializing now to be visibly seen.

"We don't want you," one demon hissed at Natsu.

"You are one of us, yes?" another called out, "You must help us get the artifact for the master."

"No chance in hell!" Natsu shot back, fist inflamed, "And I'm NOT a demon."

"You are END, yes?" the demon taunted.

"I'm NOT END!" Natsu growled, "END is gone now. What do you want?"

Several demons approached now. Behind them, the rock face glowed.

"Just the girl," the first demon cackled, "Only the girl and her egg."

Gray's arm was fully charged and he sprang into action, slaying every demon he came across with little effort, "They're low level demons!" He yelled, "The rock is glowing, so I think Lucy is probably almost here! Let's get rid of these losers and go home!"

"Right!" Erza yelled, "Natsu - go by the rock. When Lucy appears, protect her at all costs!"

Natsu didn't need to be told twice. He backed up by the rock, firing off balls of fireballs at the demons who came toward him. Demons were everywhere - and even as low level demons, they were vicious. One sank its' teeth into Erza's shoulder, just before Gray iced it solid. She didn't even scream before resuming her attacks. Natsu could feel his anger growing as he swung furiously at the attacking demons.

Behind him, he saw the glow of the rock diminish. Whirling around, his eyes met a panicked Lucy, who instantly reached for her whip as she noticed the battle that ensued around her. Natsu stopped what he was doing, enveloping her in a quick hug before resuming his attacks.

"I missed you!'' he yelled, vaporizing a demon she had just whipped and chucked his way, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Oh, you know...lying on a beach, getting a tan!" she hollered back, grabbing a demon by the ankle, then chucking into the rock face, "NATSU! Head in the game, please! We need to kick some ass! Worry about where I was _later_!"

He nodded, firing his palms up.

They were getting the upper hand. The demon crowd became more sparse. Erza sliced one in half, then realized she'd run out of opponents.

"They're on the run!" Gray yelled triumphantly.

"Nooooo," Lucy said slowly, panic in her voice, "They're leaving willingly...for something bigger."

Natsu backed up until he was flush against her back, ready.

Erza and Gray regrouped as well. The four stood silently and motionlessly, awaiting whatever was coming next.

They didn't have to wait long. A gigantic, dragon-like creature rose from the cliff-side. Its' scales were blue/gray...its' eyes a haunting dark red. It screeched, causing air to blow through the group's hair like a sudden gale of wind would.

"A dragon?" Gray asked incredulously, having to yell over the beating of the wings.

"Nope," Natsu shouted back, "That ain't no dragon. No self-respecting dragon would help demons with anything! That's a wyvern!"

"Shit!" Lucy whispered under her breath. Her eyes were wide. She didn't have her spirits to help her. All she had was her whip. She didn't even know if she could star-dress since her keys were tarred. Two other wyverns rose to the first wyvern's side.

The first wyvern screeched again, almost breaking their eardrums, before firing a blue fire at them. Natsu grabbed Lucy and dodged the flame. The rock face - the unbreakable rock face that Natsu, Gray and Erza had been unable to touch - exploded, sending rocks flying into their back. Erza cried out in pain as one of the flying rocks smashed into her shoulder. Both of the other wyverns attacked, sharp claws and jaws snapping. They were strong, angry, and determined that someone was going to die.

Erza backed up against Lucy and Natsu, bracing her shoulders, "Gray and I will keep these guys busy." Her voice was doing little to disguise the alarm in her voice, "Natsu, get Lucy out of here. I'm assuming you have the egg, right?"

Lucy nodded, unable to speak.

"But you're injured!" Natsu protested.

One of the wyverns started sucking in breath again, indicating another blue fire attack.

"GO!" Gray yelled, firing an ice demon attack at the wyvern to try to prevent the attack, "Get out of here!"

Natsu didn't think twice. He grabbed Lucy's arm and swung her onto his back, running for the cliff underneath the wyverns. He dove off the cliff, sending them on a downward plunge.

"WHIP!" He yelled as they neared the bottom of the cliff.

Lucy whipped a tree nearby and they swung to the branches, landing safely near the top of the tree with little more than minor cuts and bruises.

"Gray and Erza!" Lucy cried out.

"They're fine!" Natsu yelled back, already scaling down the tree with her on his back, "We've got to get out of here."

In an attempt to stop the escaping wizards, the black-ish wyvern swooped down, scratching Lucy's back underneath her backpack. Lucy let out a horrified screech as Natsu whirled around, shooting fire at the wyvern. It attacked again, claws out to get Natsu. He carefully took the time to put Lucy against a tree, then jumped up as the attacking wyvern approached, landing on its' back. Without hesitation, Natsu lit both hands and smashed them into the wyvern's back...effectively killing it. It smashed into several trees before coming to a halt about 100 yards away from where Lucy sat in pain against the tree.

He ran to her, checking her back out quickly, before rehoisting her into the piggy-back position and taking off at a full run.

Above them, they could hear Gray and Erza yelling out attacks as they took on the wyverns.

It was hours later when Lucy opened her eyes, realizing they were stopped. She hadn't fallen asleep, but she couldn't be sure if she'd just all out passed out. She was lying on her stomach. Her back stung.

"Hey," a soft voice called out, "Are you okay?"

"It hurts," Lucy took a sharp breath in, "Where are we?"

Natsu sat beside her, gently dabbing at her back, "I have no idea," he said solemnly, "But we ran until I couldn't run anymore and was pretty sure nothing was following us."

"How bad is my back?" she asked.

Natsu was quiet for a moment, "I found some water to get the wounds clean," he said, "And we had a first aid kit in your backpack."

"How bad is it?" she repeated.

Natsu sighed, "He ripped through to the shoulder bone. It's going to hurt like a bitch and you seriously need a doctor. Shouldn't be too bad right now because I found some pain medication, but we need to find a town."

She nodded, noticing she couldn't move.

"I can't touch the egg," he said softly, "I get almost like an electric shock every time I get anywhere near it."

"Now we know why they needed a Celestial mage so badly," Lucy groaned, "I hope Erza and Gray are okay."

Natsu's face didn't change from the solemn appearance, "They're Erza and Gray. Of course they'll be okay. Right now, OUR top priority is getting you somewhere we can get some help, then finding out what that egg is and where it will be safe."

"And finding out why my keys are still charred," Lucy added.

"And we need to contact the guild," Natsu said, "We're going to need help."

That startled and alarmed her. Natsu did not call for back up. And even when things looked glum, he always smiled to protect her from the gravity of the situation. He did not offer that security now.

"Do we have a lacrima?" she asked.

"No," Natsu shook his head, "Erza had it, remember?"

"And we don't know where we are?" she asked, panic started to rise in her voice.

Leaning against the tree, he reached for her, helping her climb into his lap without hurting her back. He held her loosely, pressing his cheek to her forehead, "Luce," he said softly, "We are Fairy Tail. We don't panic. We'll be fine. More than that, you should know by now that I'll do anything to protect you. I will not let anything happen to you."

She leaned into his broad chest and sighed, "I know that, Natsu...but I'd be lying if I said I'm not worried about Gray and Erza...and what about the egg? We don't know anything about it other than it houses a celestial being and the demons want it. We're not done being chased, are we?"

He shook his head, "No," he admitted, "We're in a lot of trouble and we need help from our family to see this through. I'd be lying if I said I'm not worried either. Nothing adds up. Why would a demon pay us to go get this egg, then attack us? Why do they want it so bad all of a sudden? How did no one where it was until now?"

"Natsu..." she dug her fingers into his jacket, "I can't protect anything without my keys."

He kissed her forehead, "Twit," he chided, "You were kicking ass up there with those demons. You are completely capable of doing anything you want to, Luce. You're smart - which is good because I'll need you to be the brains in our running operation. You're determined too. Nothing stands in your way when you know something needs to be done. You do need your Celestial keys, but you're more than capable without them too."

She smiled into his chest. He always knew just what to say, especially for someone who apparently wasn't good with words.

"Thanks Natsu," she whispered.

"Can you sleep a little more?" he asked quietly, "I don't want to stay here long."

"I'm good," she said softly, reaching up to run her fingers through his pink locks, which apparently was not a great idea considering the sudden twang of pain in her shoulder, "You sleep," she offered, "I'll wake you up if anything happens."

"Okay," he whispered, already halfway there.

She moved to get off his lap, but his hands gently coaxed her back into place. He placed an arm protectively around her lower back so as not to hurt her and clasped his other hand around hers against his lap. Smiling gently, she mused to herself.

 _Even Dragon Slayers need to be comforted sometimes._


	5. Chapter 5

Gray kicked the dead wyvern in the head multiple times, his anger coursing through his veins.

"Enough!" Erza called to him, subconsciously booting the other dead wyvern in the side as she approached Gray.

"You're injured," he stated, looking at the bite marks on her shoulder with concern.

"So are you," she replied, noting the large gash in his stomach.

"What do we do now?"

Erza nodded, glad to change the subject. She needed a doctor, she knew, but she didn't want to panic Gray, "We need to get a hold of the guild first," she announced, starting to rummage through her bag for the lacrima, "then we need to look at our injuries," she paused, glancing at Gray with a smirk on her face, already knowing he'd like the next thing out of her mouth, "And then...I say we pay Old Man Antoine a visit for some answers."

Gray returned the smirk, getting beside her for the lacrima call.

Natsu and Lucy were on the move. Rested safely against his back in the piggy-back position, they were running again. They hadn't come across any roads, no signs, no trails. Just miles and miles of bush. It was good in a way, she supposed, since the further they went off the radar, the less likely they'd be found. On the flip side, they further off the radar, the less likely they'd be found...as in their nakama would not find them. And how, exactly, do you hide from demons of hell? It was only a matter of time, they both knew...and so they ran.

3 days had passed. Natsu and Lucy did little other than eat, sleep, and run. Her back was starting to crust over and heal a bit, but the bones that were brushed with the claws would require magic healing. He refused to let her walk, much to her frustration. Similarly, he made sure that he gathered food and supplied water to her. They didn't talk much.

"Natsu," she said after the 4th hour of running that day, "I see something."

He paused, peering ahead. It was odd that she'd see something first, considering that he was the one with excellent eye sight.

"It's a road!" she said excitedly, pointing ahead, then wincing because she jarred her back.

He grinned, "Let's go!"

With renewed vigor, he bounded toward the road.

"Okay," he said, suddenly losing his luster, "So it's a paved road. We still don't know where we are. We still don't know which way a city might be. Well this sucks!"

She laughed, the first time he'd heard that musical sound in days, "Let's pick a direction and follow the road. It will lead somewhere eventually, right?"

He grinned his renewed enthusiasm to her and took off down the road to their right, "This way feels good to me!" he decided.

About 45 minutes later, both mages started getting excited as it was obvious they were getting to a town. Deciding against stopping at the first houses they saw since they likely couldn't provide the medical attention needed, they continued into town, getting awkward looks from townspeople as they entered. Nobody offered help nor spoke to them. When Lucy thought about it, she could kind of understand why. They were strangers and they were dirty and wounded. She hoped a hotel would take pity on them, knowing she had a bit of jewel in her backpack.

They found a small hotel on the outskirts of town and entered it, the hotel desk person's eyes widening in horror.

"Hello," Natsu said sweetly, "We're mages, fresh from a fight with some nasty beasts. We need a room and a doctor and a lacrima. Can you help us?"

The desk clerk's eyes widened again as he muttered something under his breath that was unintelligible before pressing several buttons on his desk.

"He doesn't speak our language," Lucy realized as she glanced at the multiple areas around the room that had different, unfamiliar writings on them, "Natsu, we aren't in Fiore!"

"Impossible!" Natsu scoffed, "I'm sure he's just calling the doctor."

He glanced at the man, who had panic in his eyes. Several men in uniforms appeared at the door opposite the entrance.

"You're right," Natsu said, spinning on his heel, "Let's get the hell outta here."

And so, again, Natsu ran. Nobody seemed to be chasing them, so after awhile, they walked. They took in the town quietly, not saying anything to anyone. They stuck out like sore thumbs, however. With Lucy's blonde hair and Natsu's pink, plus the fact that he piggy-backed her, they stood out wildly. It seemed everyone in the village had dark skin and dark eyes. They all wore white robes down to their feet.

"We need supplies," Lucy said, knowing that they were about to hit the pavement again, "Maybe if we can't communicate, they'll at least accept our jewel for some food."

Natsu caught the eye of a little girl watching them and offered a kind smile. When she didn't bolt, he approached her slowly, "Hey little one. How are you?"

The little girl was maybe 12 or 13. She had dark hair and dark eyes, much like the majority of the residents of this strange little town, except her complexion was considerably lighter and there was a tinge of colour to her dark hair.

"You...Fiore?" she asked awkwardly.

Lucy and Natsu's eyes lit up.

"Yes," Lucy said gently, "We're from Fiore. I'm Lucy and this is Natsu. What's your name?"

She looked at them blankly, obviously not fully understanding. She rattled off a phrase or two in a foreign language, then gestured for them to follow her.

Looking at each other, Lucy nodded to Natsu as they seemingly didn't have a lot of options. 20 minutes later, they came to a tiny house on the outskirts of town. The girl went in the house, yelling in the strange language. A minute later, a large man came to the door. He was different from the other villagers. His hair was green and his complexion was much lighter.

"Hello," Lucy said nervously.

The man smiled, "So it's true - you really are from Fiore."

"You speak our language," Natsu said dumbly.

"I'm from Fiore too," the man laughed, "This is my daughter, Petra, and I'm Henre."

Natsu stuck out a hand to shake the large man's, "I'm Natsu and this is Lucy."

"What brings you here?" Henre asked, waving them to follow him into the house.

Natsu let Lucy down, holding her gently so she wouldn't fall on her wobbly feet, "We're travelers," he said, "But we lost our way. We were attacked by...a forest creature. My wife...she's hurt pretty badly."

Lucy coughed into his shoulder. _Wife? What the hell?_

"I will see what I can do to help," Henre said, gesturing to the couch.

He called in the foreign language to the kitchen and a pretty woman came in. She was dark like the other villagers. Natsu smiled at Petra, knowing now where her looks came from.

"This is my wife, Santri," Henre explained, "She's not a nurse, but I'm certain she can look at your wounds."

Obligingly, Lucy removed her backpack and turned around. The angry wyvern claws had raked from her shoulder down to her mid back. Natsu had cleaned the wounds daily and used the antiseptic in the backpack to the best of his ability, but admittedly, he was clumsy at the best of times. His bandage job was...something to be desired.

Santri nodded at Lucy, obviously not speaking the Fiore language herself, and then examined Lucy's back. She took her hands and gently pushed the wounds, making Lucy cry out. Natsu made a move to go to her, but Henre held out a hand, indicating to give Santri time. The wounds began to glow and heal up.

"You have healing magic," Natsu said in awe.

Santri smiled as she continued working on Lucy.

"She is a limited healer," Henre said, "But certainly limited is better than none. What did you say attacked her? Those are claws unlike I've ever seen."

"We don't know," Lucy said quickly, thinking it was better to divulge as little information as possible, "It was dark out."

"Hmmm," Henre said, so low Natsu probably wouldn't have heard without his dragon hearing.

The woman grunted with satisfaction at her healing job, saying something to her husband.

"She says she's done what she can," Henre supplied, "And it should be much better, but you need to rest."

"We couldn't get a hotel," Natsu said, "The man there called a bunch of soldiers of some kind."

Henre nodded, "They don't like outsiders here. I came to this village years ago, fell in love with Santri and stayed, but it took years for the villagers to accept me. We have an extra room."

"Do you take jewel here?" Lucy asked, "We have jewel and we'd like to pay you for your kindness."

Henre shook his head, "Unnecessary," he quipped, "Santri and I would always help someone in need if we could. Besides...jewel means nothing here. They have another form of currency."

Natsu and Lucy nodded their thanks, following Petra to their assigned room.

"Wife?" Lucy asked Natsu with wide eyes once they were safely locked in.

Natsu shrugged, "I didn't think they'd let us stay together if I said anything else. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Besides...aren't you _kind of_ my wife? We're together all the time and there's no other person in Earthland that I'd rather be with..."

His face went crimson and he looked away nervously.

She smiled, gently drawing him into a hug, "I'd be lost without you, Natsu."

"Yeah," he kissed the top of her head, not missing the teasing sarcasm in her voice, but thankful for her steering the conversation away from his embarrassing statement that they're practically married, "You would be."

She smacked his arm, laughing with him, feeling more relaxed than she had in days.


	6. Chapter 6

Gray and Erza were sitting at a bar in Kahling. Their last few days had been not as eventful as hoped. Their injuries were promptly treated by the Kahling doctor, but when they tried to confront Duke Antoine, the house had been completely deserted. It had become obvious that he never intended to pay them for the job. The money was simply to lure the Celestial mage to the job, then steal the egg from her as soon as it was retrieved.

Master Makarov had insisted Erza and Gray stay put while he organized back-up from Fairy Tail. Lucy and Natsu were out there somewhere and likely to be attacked by demons over and over again until something was done with that egg. Levy had been working on the tar issue and the identity of the spirit trapped in the egg to no avail. Without seeing the substance covering the keys (even with Gray's description), she couldn't figure much more out about that. As far the egg went, there was little to no documentation other than what they already knew.

The additional mages were due on the next 6:00 train, which was in about 6 hours. Gray and Erza had moved hotels and talked to various townspeople, but there wasn't really anything new learned at all. Nobody had heard of the job request. Nobody knew about the egg buried above their city, and nobody had even noticed the commotion on the hill the other day. In short, both mages were sick of the town, its inhabitants, and waiting for Fairy Tail to show up.

"I still don't get why we can't go look for Natsu and Lucy," Gray muttered under his breath.

"I agree," Erza's brow furrowed, "They will be chased eventually. The demons will not give up after trying for the egg just once. As soon as Natsu and Lucy resurface, there will be another attack. We need to be there to help them."

"We cooooouuuuld..." Gray made shifty eyes toward the door.

"Without Master's permission?" Erza blurted out, her obvious shock making Gray laugh.

"Erza, you know I'm normally a straight and narrow kinda guy," Gray said, the laughter disappearing from his voice, "But Flame Brain and Lucy are in trouble. We have no idea where they are. As much as Fire Freak pisses me off..."

"...He's your best friend," Erza supplied, to which Gray nodded.

"And we all feel the same way about Lucy," Gray continued, "Lucy is the light of Fairy Tail. We all love her. I'd never forgive myself if something happened."

"Natsu won't let anything happen to Lucy," Erza said pointedly, "You know how much he loves her...and not the same way the rest of us love her."

Gray nodded, "I know. It's just hard to sit here."

"Then let's go," Erza announced, standing up, "We'll return to the scene of the crime and look for evidence on where Lucy and Natsu have gone and start tracking them. We'll leave a note at the train station and they can meet up with us at the first campsite, as I assume Natsu and Lucy haven't left the cover of the forest. We'll leave calling cards for the trackers to follow."

Gray grinned, following his friend out the door.

* * *

Natsu and Lucy were preparing to leave. Henre and his family had been amazing with them, but they didn't have a lacrima and the next priority was letting Fairy Tail know where they were.

They were outside, saying goodbye to the family, Lucy huddled over a map with Henre so she could understand where the next village would be. They had traveled over the mountain into Seinch, the next country over from Fiore. Now they would back peddle to Fiore, but stay to the road. Crystaline City was the closest to the border.

"Whatever trouble you're _actually_ in," Henre said to her, "You have a safe home here. Please come visit us again."

"Thank you for everything," Lucy called, waving.

Henre pulled his wife to his side, where she urgently whispered in his ear.

"My wife says she hopes you made a baby at our house now that your back is better! She says you are beautiful together!" Henre called.

Lucy and Natsu blushed profusely, turning back to wave once more.

"Next time we see you, we'll have at least two!" Natsu promised.

Waving goodbye, the mages giggled slightly, started their long walk.

"Maybe we shouldn't go back to Fiore," Lucy stated, walking beside Natsu. Her back was no longer in danger and hurt a lot less. Carrying her wasn't necessary anymore, although Natsu still had one arm around her waist., "I think maybe the demons didn't think to check out of the country."

"Maybe," Natsu admitted, "but our family won't think about that either. We need a lacrima. We'll be safer with Fairy Tail than anyone else."

Lucy nodded, continuing down the road.

* * *

Fairy Tail was quiet these days. Natsu and Gray had been gone for awhile, but with Laxus, Juvia, Gajeel, and Levy also gone to support the others, the guild was _eerily_ quiet. Makarov had gone to the Magic Council to inform them of the new developments.

Mirajane poured Jet a beer and exchanged glances with Cana.

"Do you feel that?" she asked, steadying herself on the bar counter.

Suddenly, the entire guild started to shake, the roof threatening to cave in. The front doors burst open. Happy hid behind Wendy with Carla as 5 enormous demons stormed into the guild. The last one, being ridiculously tall, simply smashed through the wall.

"OH NOWWWWW YOU'VE DONE IT!" Cana yelled at them, "Makarov is going to be soooooo pissed at you!"

There was no more time for talk. Instantly, the guild hall was in action. Freed set up runes around the master's office so no one would gain access, then started setting lacrima bombs, only set to go off on beings that were not Fairy Tail members. The remainder of the Thunder Legion attacked the tall demon. Cana nodded to Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna and they all took on the 2nd demon. Macao, Jet, Droy, Max, and Wakaba took on the 3rd. Alzack and Bisca, along with Nab, Mest, Laki and Reedus took on the 4th.

Alarmed, Mira suddenly realized there was no one to take on the 5th demon, "Cana! We have to finish this one quickly!"

Cana looked over to the 5th demon, who was stalking up to where she fell, raising its' enormous foot to squash her.

"I don't think so, asshole!" a new voice rang out, "That would be last mistake you'll ever make! NOBODY touches Daddy's little girl!"

Gildarts appeared at the last moment, pushing up on the demon's foot and easily sliding a sword through it. The demon reeled in pain, jumping back with a roar. With Gildarts pursuing the 5th demon, Cana got off the floor to rejoin her group.

Mira cringed as the tall demon the Thunder Legion was attacking crashed through another wall. Focusing on her own demon, she began transformation. Her brother also went into beast mode and together, they focused their attacks. Lisanna changed into an bird, luring the gigantic monster toward her siblings. Cana charged a card, preparing to trap the demon within it. As if on clockwork, the demon went straight into her line of fire.

Throwing the card with an incantation, Cana concentrated, "Card that be within my reach, trap this demon!"

There was a blur of light. The demon disappeared instantly, trapped within the card. Nodding to the others, the team broke apart and rejoined with other teams battling the remaining 4 monsters.

The 3rd demon was short, but very toned with an angry, open mouthed snarl on its' face. He used iron magic in a similar way to Gajeel, but didn't have the brains to back it up. He tore apart beams, using the metal in the hinges and nails to throw at his opponents. Jet was speeding in and out of the demon's legs with a rope, effectively tying the legs together as he did. Max threw sand into the air, blinding the demon. The demon lashed out, swiping furiously with its' claws, making contact with Wakaba and sending him reeling into one of the only support beams still standing in the building. Thankfully it held, but as Elfman joined their group, he realized soon the building would collapse...again. He nodded to the others and they advanced together, the 3rd demon suddenly realizing he was in a lot of trouble.

Alzack and Bisca made quick work of their demon, hog tying him effectively. Cana showed up and trapped this one in a card too. Looking over, she realized Gildarts had long since defeated his demon, glancing proudly over the guild as each team finished their job.

"FAIRY TAIL!" Gildarts yelled, "We are victorious! You've done well protecting our home!"

"Well," he muttered, surveying the damage, "to a point anyway."

He was met with wild explosions of agreement.

Cana and Mirajane explained the current situation to him. Gildarts face got lower and darker as they continued.

"Do you know something?" Mirajane asked suddenly, watching his face.

"Yeah," Gildarts said in the usual Gildarts way, "And those kids are in trouble. I can only hope the reinforcements get there in time."

He got up and grabbed his backpack.

"Where are you going, Pops?" Cana demanded, "We need you more than ever now! That's just like you to walk out at a time like this!"

He walked up to her, brushing his hand down her cheek lovingly, "My baby girl, I'm not deserting them. I'm going to catch up to them. Gray is a demon slayer and Natsu is a fire dragon slayer, but they aren't going to win this fight. It's all Lucy. Lucy is the only one who can put a stop to this."

"What do you mean?" Freed asked, joining the small group.

"Only Lucy can set the spirit in the egg free and squelch the demon attacks," Gildarts said.

"You're telling us Natsu, Erza, and Gray aren't strong enough?" Mirajane's mouth dropped open.

"That's right," Gildarts nodded to her, winking slightly, "Lucy is the only one who can stop this. So I'm going to go to them and guide her through this."

"I'll come!" Mirajane said quickly, remembering the nice evening she and Gildarts had spent the last time he was in town. She pushed the thought aside. She was one of the strongest members of Fairy Tail - so she should be there at the front lines.

He ran a hand along Mira's face, causing her to blush, "Nope. I'm going alone. The demons didn't find what they were looking for and you've defeated them this round...they might be back. You all need to protect the guild hall...or what's left of the guild hall..." he paused, surveying the damage again, "You might want to _build_ the new guild hall...preferably before Master comes back."

With that, Gildarts left the guild hall without another word, oblivious to the walls of the city that closed as he walked through town and out of Magnolia once again.


	7. Chapter 7

"They are not here, my Lord," a demon hissed, bowing to his master.

Behind him, the small village burned. There were no survivors. He glanced to Henre's body, "That is where they stayed."

The demon lord nodded, "They haven't gotten far." His voice was low, making the other demons around him cringe, "Sniff them out. Stalk them down. I want them alive. Well, I don't care about the fire wizard, but the Celestial wizard needs to be alive."

"The fire wizard," the demon said, bowing low, "He was END, Master."

"I know," the demon lord said, smiling slightly, "And they think END is gone, so he is not a threat to us."

* * *

Natsu and Lucy were camped off the road. They didn't dare make a fire, so they were huddled together under a flimsy blanket. Thankfully, they didn't need much more due to Natsu's natural heat. The seasons were turning. Winter was fast approaching. They were high in the mountains again, so the cold was getting to Lucy rather quickly.

"Are you scared?" Natsu asked, nuzzling her neck when she shivered.

"Kind of," she admitted, "I don't like feeling followed. We don't even know why this egg is so important."

He was laying on his side, one leg and arm thrown across Lucy's body to keep her warm. Her body was still shaking from the cold regardless. During the day, movement kept the chill from getting her. Night was a different story.

"I haven't even seen it yet," He realized, "The egg I mean."

She sighed, "You're not missing much. It's not bright or spectacular. It's not even polished or anything. It's not really something that would normally catch your eye. I don't feel any magic coming off of it at all. I feel sorry for whatever spirit has had to live in it."

"Feeling warmer?" he asked, pulling her further into his chest.

"A bit," she wrapped her arms around his waist, "Natsu? What you said back at Henre's house...I really _would_ be lost without you. You know that, right?"

She was thankful for her companion...her saviour in so many situations. He was her best friend, her protector, and her greatest ally. He never wavered in his position by her side.

He smiled, eskimo kissing her. His emotions were flooding him too. Lucy. Gorgeous, sweet Lucy. His best friend and companion. "Do you know what? I tease you, but I'd be really lost without you too. I don't think you understand how amazing you are. You are literally everything to me."

They were inches apart, their noses pressed together. Natsu sighed, emotions flurrying through his blood as the age-old argument pushed its' way to the surface. He'd argued with himself multiple times over the years, pushing off his feelings for her.

"When this is over..." he said quietly, daring himself to finish the sentence. The words always failed him.

"What?"

Shifting his position so that her back was on the ground, he brushed her lips lightly with his, shocking her to her core. They'd always been close and she knew how she felt about him, but he never got so bold as to kiss her. She didn't pull away, but gave in to the slight kiss.

"I want to date you," he whispered, "There's nothing special about me. I can't offer you more than a loyal companion and maybe my rickety old house, but I can't deny how important you are to me anymore either…how important you've _always_ been. Maybe it's time to be honest about it."

He kissed her again, this time a little deeper and harder. She melted into the kiss, encouraging him by lifting her head slightly.

"I think I'm in love with you," he admitted, looking into her eyes softly, "Okay…I _know_ I'm in love with you. And I have been for a long time now. People think I'm kinda dumb at these things. And they're right. I didn't know how to tell you."

"Lucy..." his eyes met hers, suddenly burning with fire from pent up frustration of their situation. They were both aware of the gravity of it. Demons were likely hunting them right this minute. They hadn't talked to their guild in over a week. And they didn't know if Gray and Erza were dead or alive. They were in the middle of nowhere with dwindling supplies. It was a bad predicament and an even worse time to be confessing to her, "You don't have to say anything now. We'll talk about it when we get home."

Lucy was thinking deeply as he turned again to lie down, holding her against her chest. Her mind reeled with his confession. She knew she loved him for a long time as well, and she found it almost comical that they'd been so oblivious to each other, despite the constant teasing from the rest of the guild. She did love him. Every happy memory she'd had since joining Fairy Tail was associated with her own, personal dragon slayer.

"Natsu," she said quietly. Her head was tucked under his chin. Her body rested on his chest under the flimsy blanket they shared, "I love you too."

He tilted her chin up so she was looking at him, "Really?"

"Yeah," she said softly, pulling away from him to look off into the distance as she felt her emotions well up inside her, "And I'm scared shitless right now," she admitted, "I'm scared of our friendship changing. I'm scared we're not going to get out of this," her eyes filled with tears, "I'm scared we're never going have the chance to be together because demons are going to hunt us down and kill us before we even have a chance to talk about it again," a sob racked her body and she sat up so she was facing away from him, "So I'm glad you confessed to me. I love you too, Natsu Dragneel. And I'm sorry it took us so long to admit it to each other. I wanted more time…I'm so scared we're not going to get it."

He turned her around, wrapping her in his arms, kissing her to silence, "Why are you talking like that?" he demanded, "You're talking like something bad is going to happen! Dammit Lucy, we're going to get all the time we need. We'll have the rest of our lives to spend time together! Have we ever _not_ made it out of a situation?" He wiped her tears with his fingers.

"I just have a very bad feeling," she admitted, "And I don't think we should wait."

"Shouldn't wait?" he asked slowly.

She leaned forward and kissed him hard, cupping his cheeks, pressing her body against his and she used her weight to push him back down the ground.

"Oh," Natsu said, his face flushing, "Luce, are you sure about this?"

She nodded, taking a deep breath, "What if this is the only time we'll have to be together?"

"We'll have lots of time…" Natsu started, his voice trailing off as he looked at her panicked expression. Something about it alarmed him

"If we do have lots of time, great. But I would rather have one night with you tonight than spend the rest of eternity regretting _not_ being with you tonight."

Something about the way she stated her last sentence struck him. She leaned forward and he gave himself into the kiss.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Me too," she replied.

After that, no more words were spoken for the remainder of the night as they sunk to the ground to prove their love together.

 _ **I received a review stating that the previous love scene was inconsistent with the story…and I agree! It's not my usual "thing" to write explicit love scenes in. In this case, I decided to include it because I'm trying to establish the deep bond that already existed between Natsu and Lucy, enabling them to reach the next level. This will also provide the further angst for Chapter 13, as Natsu realizes Lucy was right in her assumption that it would be their only chance to express their love. What do you think? Thank you to the reader for that opinion. I had been wrestling with it myself and feel this way of expressing the scene is more consistent with the story. ~ShanaHollows**_


	8. Chapter 8

Gray and Erza were hot on the trail of Lucy and Natsu. At least they figured they were. They had followed the trail as far as the road. But tracking them would not be easy now since the road was paved. There was no way of telling which way they went.

"Maybe we should wait for the others now," Gray suggested.

"Maybe," Erza said slowly, "Or, I could go one way and you could go the other."

"I don't like that idea," Gray stooped down, tracing Natsu's sandal mark that did not point either way on the road, "I don't like the idea of being separated any more than we are. We have a minimum of 3 groups out here already. When these demons attack, we'll stand a better chance if we're together."

"Truth," Erza admitted, "I wish we knew how far behind the others are."

The 'others' were not far behind. Laxus and Gajeel were using their dragon senses and closing in fast. Juvia and Levy trailed behind, not talking since it apparently high offended the dragon slayers' concentration. They had learned _that_ the _hard way._

"They're just up ahead," Gajeel noted. He turned, pulling Levy onto his back.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Going faster!" he yelled, breaking into a full run. Laxus grinned at Juvia and they both took off after Gajeel.

They were louder than vulcans surrounding women in the forest, and by the time they neared the road, Erza and Gray were in full defensive mode.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Gray demanded, relaxing his stance once he realized who it was.

Juvia flew into Gray's arms, "My darling - are you unhurt? I've missed you so much!"

"I'm fine," Gray muttered, stroking the top of her head and giving her a quick kiss.

"We lost the track here," Erza told Laxus and Gajeel.

Levy leapt off Gajeel's back.

Gajeel sniffed, "They were here. Recently."

"Which way?" Levy asked.

"Both ways," Laxus answered, sniffing the air.

"They went that way first," Gajeel pointed to the right, "The scent is less strong that way."

"But coming back this way," Gajeel pointed left, "There is another smell. Only going left. They're following Natsu and Lucy."

"Who is?" Juvia asked, edging closer to Gray.

"Demons," Laxus stated, "And a _lot_ of demons too."

"We were just debating splitting up to check it out," Erza informed.

"We might still do that," Laxus acknowledged, "If we split, maybe someone saw something that way or at least we'll find a clue as to why they turned and came this way."

"I'll go to the right," Erza said authoritatively, "Levy and Gajeel, come with me. Laxus, you take Gray and Juvia left. You're more likely to find Natsu and Lucy first, so keep in touch with the lacrima."

Laxus nodded, much to the relief of everyone. Erza and Laxus often butted heads since they both thought they were in charge, "Let's go. We check in every 2 hours. If you don't check in, we assume you've been attacked."

Without another word, the groups separated.

* * *

Lucy and Natsu were walking again, holding hands.

"I'm getting so tired of walking," Lucy complained, "My body is so sore."

Natsu's eyes flashing, grinning proudly, "Mine too. Wonder why?"

She smacked him playfully, "We must be close."

"I'd say so," Natsu stopped and sniffed the air, "Too close. Oh shit."

He grabbed her, backing into the forest silently. She took the hint and remained quiet.

"What's wrong?" she whispered after a few minutes.

He paused, listening, watching. She didn't ask again.

Suddenly, he flew out of the bushes, hands ablaze.

 _Demons!_ She realized too late. One grabbed a hold of her, pulling back into the bushes.

She twisted her body wildly, managing to turn around and Lucy-kick the demon in the groin (Do demons have groins?). Pulling out her whip, she snapped it around the demon's arm and smashed it into a tree. Natsu had effectively knocked out the two in front of him as well.

"Only 3?" she breathed heavily, glancing around for more.

"Nuh uh," Natsu answered in alarm, pointing to the sky where a winged demon screeched into the air, well out of range for Natsu's fire, "They're scouters."

"He's alarming the others!" Lucy realized, her face paling in her fear.

"Luce, whatever happens, you run...do you hear me? Protect that egg no matter what!"

"I won't!" she protested, "I won't leave you! There's nowhere I can run anyway. Even if I make it to the next city, the demons will just tear it apart to find me. Innocent people will die."

He nodded, "Okay then. Let's gain some ground while we can."

He grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the forest to find a hill. Finding one, he yanked her upward, "We need the higher ground," he explained.

Shadows started twisting around them.

Lucy stood her ground, waiting for Natsu's signal. Dozens of demons started creeping toward them, scowling. Saliva dripped from their mouths. She wished for her keys, but wishing would do no good for her now. Whip it was!

* * *

Gajeel, Levy and Erza entered the village, stone-faced at the status of it. Wood buildings still burned. The blood of the locals stained the streets. Levy's stomach lurched and she bent over to hurl.

"They're all dead," Gajeel whispered, "I can't hear any heartbeats."

"My God," Erza's hands shook as she inspected the absolute damage, "Why? Why was this necessary?"

"Because they were here," Gajeel said quietly, sniffing the air. He pointed, "They were over this way."

The three of them waded through the destruction to where the smell was strongest.

"He's alive!" Gajeel rushed over to the gentleman wedged between several pieces of concrete.

"Sir," Levy said softly, taking her place beside Gajeel, "We're Fairy Tail mages...can you tell us what happened?"

Henre was gasping for air. They checked his body to see how bad his injuries were, but helping him was futile and Henre knew it. He was paralyzed and he could feel the fluid in his lungs. As if on cue, he coughed up blood.

"Demons," he whispered, his voice gurgling with the blood in his throat, "They want the young couple. They turned the village upside down looking for them."

"How long ago did they leave?" Gajeel asked.

"Two hours ago. At least. I've been lying here ever since, so I may have lost track of time. My wife...my daughter...they're both dead."

Levy held the man's hand, "We're so sorry, mister."

Erza was pissed, requipping into her Morning Star armour.

"You...you look like an angel!" the man gasped for air, as Erza finished her transformation, "Please, madam...bless me and my family so that we might be together in the afterlife."

Erza stooped beside the man's head on the other side of Gajeel and Levy, pressing her hand to his forehead. A tear rolled down her cheek as she caressed it, "May the Almighty receive you and this entire village into His kingdom. You are truly brave, sir. Be at peace."

With that, the man closed his eyes and gave the death sigh.

"AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Erza screamed her utter despair and frustration, "None of these people deserved this! This is so wrong!"

"It's also imminent that the demons are on Natsu and Lucy's trail," Gajeel stood up, trying to keep Erza focused, "We need to get there ASAP."

"Right," Levy stood up, wiping tears from her face, "Sleep well, old man," she whispered. Gajeel took her hand and squeezed it.

"Let's go!" Erza started to run.

Gajeel swung Levy onto his back and followed Erza, full speed ahead.


	9. Chapter 9

Natsu and Lucy were all out battling, Natsu blocking flying demons in front of Lucy's body.

"We don't want you, you disgusting slug," the demon he was currently fighting with hissed, "Just give us the egg and we'll leave you."

"Yeah right!" Natsu yelled, disintegrating him to ash, "Who's next?"

They were effective, the two of them, killing demons left and right, but the demons were many...as in several hundred.

Lucy rammed another demon into the rock wall, "Natsu, we can't keep this up!"

"We can't run either," Natsu agreed, "There's nowhere to go. Even if we made it to town, they'd follow."

"So what do we do?"

"WE FIGHT HARDER!" Natsu dragon-roared, disintegrating several demons at once. More appeared in their place.

Lucy stood her ground with Natsu, but she knew it would not be long now. For every demon they defeated, 2 more appeared. They were grossly outnumbered and tired. Not even Natsu could keep this up. She wished for her gate keys again, but a fat lot of good wishing would do.

"Who are you anyway?" Natsu screamed at the demon group as he bashed two together.

A demon bit Lucy's wrist, causing her to cry out.

"We are Dorthos, House of the Anwick. Give us what's ours and we'll kill you quickly."

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Natsu yelled, releasing another Dragon Roar. Lucy would have teased him about the irony of his comment, but it was highly inappropriate timing.

"Natsu..."Lucy interjected. She watched new hoards of demons approach, "My God...we're fighting all of hell."

"Then we'll fight harder!" Natsu attacked again.

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

Lucy could heard the thumping, but she didn't know where it was coming from.

"Do you hear that?" She called to Natsu.

Natsu shook his head, quickly returning to the task at hand.

A demon slashed her leg. Natsu promptly blew it into oblivion. Lucy fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face as she realized the hopelessness of the situation.

"Natsu...I can't help thinking we're both about to die…I need you to know that I love you." Her voice was barely above a whisper, "And I'm so glad we finally figured out what the guild has been telling us for years."

"Don't you talk like that, Luce!" Natsu warned, "I'm serious! I heard enough of that last night and I should've corrected you then! Fairy Tail wizards never give up! Get off your knees, Lucy!"

She looked up at him, love in her eyes, "No matter what happens, I will always love you, Natsu."

"GET OFF YOUR FUCKING KNEES!" he ordered, using Iron Fist to knock away another group, "GET UP! THIS IS NOT OVER YET! YOU CAN'T TELL ME WE ONLY GET ONE NIGHT TOGETHER! I WANT OUR FUTURE, LUCE! I WANT TO MARRY YOU AND HAVE KIDS WITH YOU AND GROW OLD WITH YOU! THIS DOES NOT END TODAY! DON'T YOU GIVE UP ON ME!"

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

Marriage? Kids? Tears streamed down her face, but she stood up, listening to the mystery heartbeat and trying to decide why she could hear it and Natsu couldn't, even with Dragon Slayer hearing. She felt a surge of comfort thump through it, wrapping her body and giving her courage.

Taking a deep breath, she pumped her fist, "I'm holding you to that, Natsu Dragneel! Marriage and kids! Okay...let's show them what Fairy Tail is...together!"

"That's my girl!" Natsu bellowed.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, "STAR DRESS - TAURUS!"

She wasn't sure if it would work, considering she still had tarred keys, but seconds after calling out the order, her body lit up with light. The demons cowered at it, backing away. Some swore and to Natsu's absolute delight, others melted.

"All right, you sons of bitches! Come and get it!" she roared.

With renewed energy, Lucy went to work, plowing over hordes of demons. She was powerful. Powerful and beautiful as she smashed them to pieces. It was still a losing battle, Natsu knew, but they'd go down fighting like true Fairy Tail mages...and they'd take a shitload of demons down with them.

All at once, demons started scattering in every direction. Lucy blocked them off on one side, destroying them with her ax. Natsu blocked off the left entrance, again using Fire Dragon Iron Fist.

A demon approached Lucy from behind, his teeth dripping in saliva. He carefully maneuvered around Lucy's blind spots until he was directly behind her.

"LUCY BEHIND YOU!" Natsu screamed out.

The demon didn't go for her. He snatched the backpack and started to run. The other demons closed in.

"NO!" Lucy screamed, "Natsu, we have to get the backpack!"

Suddenly, the demon froze solid, backpack still in midair.

"What the hell?" Natsu asked.

The battleground had stopped effectively, everyone looking at the strange frozen-out-of-nowhere anomaly.

Other demons started to freeze up too, others getting captured in water bubbles, then getting electrocuted.

"That can only mean one thing!" Lucy grinned to Natsu, her face almost splitting.

"That's right!" Natsu resumed fighting, "The cavalry has arrived! Ice Freak, I've NEVER been so glad to see you!"

Gray used an ice wall, blocking an escape route while Juvia slammed them into the ice wall with her water. Behind her, Laxus pummeled 3 demons at once.

"Are you both okay?" Juvia yelled between shots of magic.

"Yeah!" Lucy yelled back, "But I don't know if I could've said the same thing 5 minutes from now!"

"Is the egg safe?" Gray froze 3 more demons, smashing them with his demon slayer arm.

"You froze it, Ice for Brains!" Natsu looked around, "They're retreating! Don't let anyone get away!"

The 5 wizards chased down every demon they could, but were essentially happy that they'd won...for now. Panting furiously, Natsu found Lucy, colliding into her with a passionate kiss.

"You were so HOT!" he exclaimed, adrenaline still pumping through his veins, "And I cannot WAIT to get you alone later!"

The other 3 wizards' mouths dropped open.

"Oh yeah!" Natsu said cheerfully, "Lucy and I are in love. Have been forever. Finally admitted it last night." Grinning widely, he stomped off to see about getting the backpack out of the ice block.

Lucy smacked him in the arm as he passed her, "Baka! Ever heard of tact?"

Laxus snickered, "Well, we all knew it would happen eventually."

"We need to move," Juvia interjected, "We've had a retreat for now, but the demons will be back."

Gray nodded, helping Juvia to her feet. Natsu lightly melted the ice block that contained the backpack, smashing the demon who held it to pieces.

"Out to the road," Laxus ordered, "Erza, Gajeel and Levy should almost be here."

Nodding, the others followed him.

They met up with Erza, Gajeel, and Levy on the road, as suspected. The entire team now together, they sat at a pub in the town, which was actually only 10 km from the battleground.

Lucy had the egg out, so everyone could see. Again, its' luster was small. There was nothing unusual about the egg itself. It hardly looked like an artifact at all.

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

Lucy glanced at her comrades to see if any else could hear it. She was beginning to think she had an ear infection.

"All this death over an egg," Erza sighed.

"Those were good people," Lucy said solemnly, having heard about the village's demise, "They housed us for 3 days while our wounds healed."

"Then we need to make their deaths mean something," Levy interjected, "By finishing this once and for all."

"And how do we do that?" Gray asked, "That was one wave. My understanding is that they'll keep coming."

"We should call Fairy Tail," Laxus suggested, "Make things things there are okay."

Erza used the lacrima. As the image of their guild appeared, they despairingly realized all was _not_ well at Fairy Tail. The guild hall was a mess. A mess indeed, but standing.

"We held them off as best as we could," Cana was saying, "but we expect we'll be attacked again before long. Jet saw shadows in the forest again on his patrol."

"Is everyone okay?" Juvia asked.

"So far," Mirajane interjected, "We had cuts and bruises, but only low level demons were sent here and the 5 larger demons were sent here. I think it's a threat. They're trying to make sure you know they aren't going to stop."

"They burned an entire village here," Natsu said, his voice low, "They all died. Every last one of them."

He grasped Lucy's hand under the table.

"My dad is on his way," Cana offered, "He knows something, but he wouldn't tell us what. All he said was that the attacks won't stop...not until they get what they want or Lucy stops them. The power to stop this is in Lucy's hands."

"Mine?" Lucy asked incredulously, "Why me?"

"I wish we knew," Mirajane ran a hand through her hair, "Gildarts left yesterday, so he should be tracking you now. Hopefully you'll see him soon."

"How about now?" a new voice asked.

The entire table turned, slapping his back and calling out their welcome.

"We'll go for now," Mirajane said, "Find out what's going on and keep in touch with us."

"Will do," Laxus said, "Tell Gramps we'll figure this out."

"He's due back tomorrow," Cana said, "I just hope he's safe. These demons are determined to get at us, one way or another."

"Call ahead to the magic council and request an escort," Laxus told them. He paused, unused to showing that he cared, "And Mira, take care of the guild. And yourself. We'll be home soon."

She waved and disconnected the call.

A waitress brought Gildarts a much-needed beer as he sat down at the table. When he looked up, all the mages were eyeing him...waiting for him to speak.

"Well?" Juvia said expectantly, "What does Gildarts know about this?"

"The House of Dorthos," Gildarts let out a deep sigh.

He didn't speak for a moment. All eyes remained on him.

"GET ON WITH IT, OLD MAN!" Natsu smacked him in the head, supposedly to wake Gildarts from his stupor.

"Yeah - the House of Dorthos...I ran into them several years back on a mission," Gildarts continued, "At the time, I was dating Cana's mom, actually. Only woman I ever loved...curves on that body that -"

"GILDARTS!" Lucy yelled, "Please! We're tired. We've been through a lot in the past few days. We just need to know how to end this."

"It won't end," Gildarts stated ominously, "They'll send wave after wave of demons until they get what they want."

He pointed at the egg, sitting on the table, "That egg," he continued, "Houses a celestial being called Atria. She is the Celestial King's wife."

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

"Stash-Face has a wife?" Natsu asked, choking on his beer a bit.

"He loved her with everything he had," Gildarts continued, smacking Natsu on the back until he managed to knock his head into the table, effectively ending the coughing fit, "Then one day, Dude Anthony -"

"DUKE ANTOINE!" Lucy, Erza and Natsu all yelled at once.

"Yeah - that dude. Anyway, he fell in love with the Celestial Queen. He was a celestial mage himself and she was his spirit. She didn't return the feelings and in a fit, Dude Anthony smacked her, beating her almost to a pulp. The Celestial King was outraged, causing a war between the Celestial heavens and Dude Anthony's army on Earthland. Of course, Dude Anthony's army was incapable of defeating the Celestial army. They all died and went to hell, where Dude Anthony was promptly made a demon. In his demon form, he kidnapped the Celestial Queen, locking her away in the artifact for 1000 years. However, the King intervened during the spell casting, quickly casting one of his own. He could not save his queen, but he could deny the devil access to her. His spell added a condition to the spell on the egg - Only a Celestial wizard could ever touch the egg as only a Celestial wizard can set the Queen free. Being that Celestial wizards are so few and far between, Dude Anthony figured there was little to no chance of the egg ever being restored. _HE_ would never be with the Celestial Queen, but neither would the Celestial King."

The table was quiet, listening to Gildarts' every word.

"How do you know all this?" Lucy asked. Natsu squeezed her leg underneath the table.

"I was in the dungeons of Dorthos for a couple years," Gildarts admitted, slapping his knee, "Made the mistake of messing with one of Antoine's women."

Gajeel face palmed.

"Anyway, while I was there, one of the other inmates told me the whole story. He even broke it down for me that this is the century that the 1000 years would be up. I forgot about it for a long time, but it all came back to me as soon as Cana told me the story. Anyway, when I asked where the egg was now, he told me the 1000 years was almost up and the egg would again become visible to the Celestial eye. Unfortunately, it also meant that the demons could find it...which is why Dude Anthony made the job request so quickly. If he could get his hands on the egg, the Celestial King would not see his precious wife ever again. Furthermore, he could use it as leverage to push another war between the kingdoms. This time, he would have an army of demons to fight for him. However, this was going to be easier said than done. Only a Celestial wizard could handle the egg."

"That explains a lot," Lucy said slowly, "That's why Loke wanted me to give the egg to him."

"So eventually they would have to touch the egg somehow, right?" Natsu asked, "I mean, they just want the egg...they don't want Lucy."

Gildarts shook his head, confirming what Natsu already knew deep down, "They won't kill her, but she will never again see the light of day. They will take her and make her a slave to the demon king. She's the only one who can open the egg and turn Atria to the demons' side."

Lucy shuddered, leaning in to Natsu, who held her protectively.

"So what about Lucy's tarred keys then?" Gray put in, changing the subject so Lucy would relax a bit, "What do you think about that, Gildarts?"

Lucy removed the keys from her belt and dropped them to the table, careful not to thud them and hurt her spirits.

Picking up the ball of tar, Gildarts examined it, turning it around slowly, "I don't know."

"Why do I keep hearing a heartbeat?" Lucy asked him.

Gildarts shook his head again.

"Okay, so the story is making more sense now," Erza said, "The question is, how do we stop the attacks? What does Lucy have to do?"

Lucy cringed, not liking that it was going to come down to her. Natsu squeezed her knee reassuringly.

"You've become strong, yes?" Gildarts asked, only looking at Lucy. He reached across the table and took her hands, squeezing them in his own, "When the time comes, you'll know what to do."

Natsu stood up, slamming his hands down on top of Gildarts', forcing him to let go, "Crazy old pervert! What kind of lame-ass advice is that?"

Gildarts rose to his full height, towering Natsu by a good foot and a half, "Natsu, I get that you're tapping that now," he paused, pointed to Lucy, who was in the process of dying of embarrassment as Levy, Gajeel and Erza's mouths dropped open (they didn't know yet), "But listen to me when I say, you cannot finish it this time. This is Lucy's moment. And you have to make the decision to let her be the hero this time. Back the fuck off of her. She'll know what to do and the time to do it."

Natsu didn't back down. It was a staring contest.

Laughing, Gildarts ruffled his head, "You're a good kid, Nats. Always loved ya."

With that, he stood from the table, "Night all!"

"You aren't staying to help us fight?" Levy asked.

"I will be there," Gildarts promised, "But you know me...I'm a loner kind of guy," he winked, "I'll be watching!"

With that, Gildarts disappeared.

"He didn't pay for his beer," Gray muttered, eyeing the empty mug, "Fucker."

Erza threw an extra bit of coin on the table to cover it, "I suggest we get rooms for the night and start heading home tomorrow."

"Agreed," Laxus stated, "If we can get that far, it would be good if the next battle is on home soil where we have a bit of an advantage."

"Myself, Juvia, Levy and Lucy will share a room. And you boys -"

"Nooooo can do!" Natsu interjected, "I sleep with Lucy now."

Lucy blushed.

"YOU MEAN THAT BASTARD GILDARTS WAS TELLING THE TRUTH?" Gajeel started to gag. Levy rushed to his side, thumping lightly on his back.

Natsu squeezed Lucy's hand, smiling into her eyes, "Yeah," he said softly, taking her hand in his and kissing her lightly on the forehead, "I love her more than anything else in Earthland...and for some reason, she loves me too. She's all mine."

"Indeed," Erza muttered, clearly unimpressed. Reason being however, that she'd just lost the bet at Fairy Tail. She'd thought it would be another year before Natsu and Lucy figured it out.

"Well, Juvia and Gray have been together longer than them! Juvia should get to share a room with Gray!" Juvia stood up, grabbing her boyfriend's arm. She had had no time alone with him since they met up again.

"Gajeel and I could share," Levy said softly, blushing as they were _not_ together yet.

"I ain't sharing with you," Laxus said flatly to Erza, "Sorry, but Gajeel, you're with me, and Levy, you're with Erza."

He stalked away from the table. Levy's face fell and Lucy shot her a sympathetic look as Natsu tugged her away from the table.

They checked into a hotel down the road. Nobody had a hard time falling asleep that night.


	10. Chapter 10

Gajeel walked ahead to the head of the single file line the 8 wizards made. They were almost to a place where they could get to a train, much to the Dragon Slayers' chagrin, when they axed that idea altogether moments ago. After their daily lacrima call to Fairy Tail, they could not take the train or even venture near another town again.

They learned through the Mira that another village had been attacked the night before. The one with the pub. Again, every last citizen was dead. Solemnly, they realized they could not go through towns anymore. That's exactly what the demons were trying to force them to do…stay on the beaten track. They would punish the people even though they had nothing to do with it.

"We're being followed," Gajeel said to Laxus, quietly so as to not cause alert.

"I know," Laxus said flatly, "but as long as they let us keep moving, we should do just that. Magnolia is still at least a day's walk. Keep your eyes open. If they get too close, we'll have to make a stand."

Gajeel nodded, stepping back into line.

"Stay close," Gajeel whispered to Levy.

Her eyes went wide, unconsciously moving her body closer to his. He took her hand, keeping her in front of him.

Noticing the short exchange, Lucy became uneasy, edging closer to Natsu. He patted her hand, following Gray in a straight line. It was unusual for Natsu to be so quiet and somber. Her own burden weighed heavily on her. What if she couldn't figure it out? What if the time came and she froze, unable to do whatever it was Gildarts thought she should be able to do?

* * *

Cana threw another card, retreating behind the Fairy Tail counter with Mira.

"There's more this time," she said to Mira.

Mira nodded, transforming and darting out to attack. She jumped into the air, striking angrily. Her brother's large body flew backwards beside her. He got up and continued attacking.

"We're not going to make it," Cana said to herself. She glanced around the guild. Everyone was giving it all they had, but there were a lot more demons this time.

"Shit!" Lisanna dove behind the counter, "I'm running out of power!"

"We all are," Cana agreed, "Poor Wendy and Carla have been running their asses off, trying to tend to the wounded."

"We need a miracle," Lisanna closed her eyes, praying for it, before hopping over the counter again for round 3. A blast blew apart the counter where she'd been standing not 3 seconds earlier.

As though the heavens had heard Lisanna's prayer, the guild watched in a stupor as multiple demons flew backward into the guild. They heard the familiar stomp before they saw him, all guild members breathing out an absolute sigh of relief as a very angry Master Makarov entered the guild, eyes on fire.

He only said 4 words, but it was enough. The battle was over in that blink of an eye.

 _I invoke Fairy Law!_

* * *

"We had heavy damages this time," Cana was telling the group of 8 wizards. They were huddled around the lacrima, listening to the news that their guild had been attacked again.

"Wendy's done all she can," Mira continued, "but we lost Nab. We're still not sure if we're going to lose Jet. Porylusica is now treating Wendy for exhaustion and she's done everything in her power to keep the wounded fighting."

"I don't think we'll survive another attack," Lisanna said bitterly, "We were lucky Master got here when he did. But he can't protect us by himself and the rest of us are tired and wounded. Where in the hell are you guys anyway?"

Levy buried her face in Gajeel's sleeve. He brought her to his side, knowing she was upset over Jet and Nab.

"Enough Lisanna," Mira said quietly, putting a hand on Lisanna's shoulder, "It's not their fault."

"No, Lisanna cried angrily, "It's _Lucy's_. It's always _Lucy_ and her damned Celestial magic. How many times have we as a guild had to sacrifice? How many times have we suffered because of her? As usual, you're all traipsing across the country to rescue her ass! What about your guild? We're falling apart here - and none of you are doing anything about it!"

"ENOUGH LISANNA!" Mira pushed her sister back, leaving the lacrima view to ostracize her sister.

"Lucy, my dear," Makarov said, moving into vision, "She's scared and she doesn't mean it. Do not take it to heart. However, we do need you home. Are you almost home, my children?"

Laxus sighed heavily, "We're trying. We can't go in the cities anymore. Every city we visit gets ransacked. Same reason we're not on a train right now."

"You're right," Makarov said bluntly, "Protect the people as much as possible."

"We're probably a half a day away. And we're being stalked," Gajeel spoke up, "We're in good enough shape, but we're tired."

"We're coming home as fast as we can," Levy promised, "Please hang on."

Makarov nodded, "Fairy Tail out."

The lacrima went dark.

* * *

The group was camping, unable to take the chance of getting a hotel for the night. Laxus appointed Natsu and Gray for the first watch. The rest hit the hay, hoping to catch a few hours at the least.

Natsu could hear Lucy sobbing in her place on the ground. It was cold and he wished he could cuddle her and make her feel better.

Lisanna had been awful, but Lucy couldn't say it wasn't the truth. She knew the family of Fairy Tail helped her often throughout the years, which is why she had worked so hard to get stronger. Still, it stung. And this again was her fault. Because she was a celestial wizard, Fairy Tail was targeted again.

* * *

"They're getting closer to Fairy Tail, Master," the demon reported, "But we can wipe out Fairy Tail with one more attack."

"Good," Lord Anwick was happy with this news, "Now, work on separating the girl from her group. They cannot reach Fairy Tail under any circumstances. The sooner we tear them apart, the better. Get the egg, kill them all. Except the girl. She's mine."

"I don't think it will be hard to separate the girl now," the demon cackled, "The white haired one we possessed did her job well. The Celestial wizard should be greatly doubting herself now."

"Good," Lord Anwick grinned evilly, "Divide and conquer."

"I shall go right away," the demon promised, "to get the girl."

"No,"Lord Anwick said quietly, "I think I'll go get her myself. This ends now. Summon the Demons Three. Have them get their spells ready for her friends. We need them alive in case we need...bait."

* * *

"Luce?" Natsu called softly as he crawled beside Lucy. He was done his watch shift. He and Gray had both been relieved by Laxus and Erza, "Baby, you awake?"

She pretended to snore softly, hoping he wouldn't turn her over and see the tears on her face.

He chuckled, having been around her enough to know when she was fake-sleeping, "Weirdo. Anyway, just wanted to tell you Lisanna was way off base tonight. Nobody thinks that you cause trouble. Don't listen to anything she said, okay?" he paused, pulling her into his arms, "And Luce?" he added, turning on the heat for her a bit, "If it even got to a point where I was forced to make the choice between you and the guild, it would still always be you. Fairy Tail is important to me...but I love you more. It will always be you."

She hid her eyes in her elbow and hoped Natsu couldn't see the tears streaming down her face again. But he was a dragon slayer..he could smell them. Pulling her even closer, he turned her into his chest and held her tight.

"I think that way too, Snookums!" Gajeel mimicked in a high, girly voice.

"And me, Babycakes!" Gray mocked.

Both of them burst into laughter.

"Don't forget me, Sugarplum!" Laxus added.

"And me also," Erza said in her usual flat, serious voice. She paused, fatefully adding, "Pookey." That made all 8 of them laugh until they almost peed.

"All of Fairy Tail loves you," Juvia said with a yawn.

"Which is why we _will_ come for you," Levy continued Juvia's thought, also yawning, cuddling into Gajeel for warmth.

"Every single time," Natsu finished, kissing her nose.

"Just like you've come for us every time we need you," Erza said, "because _that_ is what makes us Fairy Tail."

"Thanks guys," Lucy said softly, wiping away her tears, "I needed that."

No more was said. With the exception of the guardians of the camp, they all fell into fitful sleeps.


	11. Chapter 11

Erza and Laxus had gone off shift. Juvia and Gajeel had just gotten up to take over. The sun was slipping over the horizon.

"Something doesn't feel right," Gajeel said under his breath.

"The shadows are dancing far too much," Juvia whispered back, "I don't like it."

Gajeel nodded, watching carefully.

"Do you smell them?" Juvia asked.

"I've smelled nothing but demon shit for days," Gajeel scoffed.

Juvia nodded, "Paranoia is setting in. We know it's coming, just not when."

Gajeel sniffed the air again, tensing up, "I think sooner than later."

She placed a hand on his wrist, listening with him. The forest had gone quiet. Absolutely, completely, and totally quiet. They looked at each other as they both heard the slight movement above the trees.

"SHIT!" Juvia spat.

"Incoming!" Gajeel yelled, rousing the others from their sleep. He was attacking before the others had even raised their heads, slashing demons with an iron spear he'd formed in his hands.

Juvia rose a water barrier to give the others time to react and she too jumped into action.

"Sons of bitches!" Natsu sprang from his cold, hard bed, leaving Lucy where she was and lit his hands up, "Why don't you all just FUCK OFF AND LEAVE US ALONE?"

Gray and Laxus were back to back, dealing out blows.

* * *

Lucy backed up to a tree, watching as her friends gave their all...again. She was pulling out her whip when she heard the whisper.

" _Celestial Mage...you can stop this. Your friends don't have to die."_

Lucy was entranced, anxiously looking everywhere around her for the mystery voice.

 _"And they_ _WILL_ _die, Celestial Mage...unless you do what you know is right."_

Levy scripted CRUSH above 3 demons in front of her, effectively smashing them to pieces. She whirled on her heel to go the other way, only to be smacked in the head by an ugly, fat demon. He grabbed both her arms, drool dripping from his mouth as he leaned in to bite her.

"NOOOO!" Lucy screamed, whipping around his neck. She pulled back, whacking the demon into a tree.

Levy nodded her thanks, skipping off to her next opponent.

 _"They'll all die,_ " the voice whispered, _"It must be hard...always being the damsel in distress. Always making everyone come after you to save you."_

"My friends love me!" Lucy yelled back, whipping out 2 more demons before transforming into her Leo Star Dress, "And I am NOT WEAK! I WILL PROTECT MY FRIENDS!"

She whirled around, using Regulus to kill another 4 or 5 demons.

The voice tried again. Her self-confidence was not as low as he'd thought. " _Do you love the pink haired former demon? He was one of us, you know."_

"SHUT UP!" She yelled, dragging her whip around 2 demon bodies and vaporizing them with Regulus.

" _He says he loves you, but he's lying. You know that, right? He loves all girls. Especially...what's her name? Lisanna?"_

Lucy cringed, finishing off another demon, "That's not true!" she screamed, viciously attacking another group approaching her.

The demon voice smiled. He was distracting her enough that she hadn't realized that she slowly drifted away from the other fighters. He had her just where he wanted her.

Coming out from the shadows, he whispered to her again as he approached her. Her head was dizzy now with the spoken suggestions, even though she knew they weren't true.

" _He fucked you because he wanted your body, not you. Actually, he didn't even want your body...you were just...there. There for the taking like the lying slut you are. He doesn't love you. How could he love a girl like you? Awkward. Temperamental. Pathetic._ "

"You're a liar! Where are you, you bastard?" she turned around, demons creeping on her from every side, "Show yourself!"

 _"What's the matter, Lucy? Don't like what I'm saying? Let's try a different angle, shall we? I can fuck you too. I can make you forget every memory you have of him. You can be mine."_

Lucy screamed, her voice shattering the air, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

She didn't see the demon Antoine himself drop from the tree above her, effectively knocking her out.

* * *

"I don't see Lucy!" Gray realized in a panic.

They'd been fighting for almost an hour. Everyone was getting tired, but the demons kept coming.

"What?" Laxus yelled back, searching the grounds, "Where could she have gone?"

"Natsu!" Gajeel yelled, "Where in the hell is Lucy?"

Natsu lit a demon on fire, desperately searching his mate out, but not finding her.

"I saw her last about a half hour ago," Levy put in, scripting BOULDER above a group of demons.

"SHIT!" Natsu yelled, "We've gotta find her!"

"Is the backpack still hidden?" Erza called out, slicing wildly, but extremely effectively.

Juvia nodded, "I can still see it. It's safe."

They'd hidden the backpack in a tree and Levy had used a combination of rune magic and script magic to cloak it.

"She's this way!" Natsu yelled, sniffing the air, "I have to go after her!"

"We got this," Gray backed up again Gajeel and the two of them resumed kicking ass together.

Suddenly, the lower level demons stopped where they were, all seemingly listening.

Erza took the opportunity to kill as many as she could while they were stopped. There were still hundreds...and for every hundred they seemed to kill, another two hundred seemed to replace them.

The smaller demons screeched, then scampered away.

"Mavis," Levy said under her breath.

Erza and Gray both knew what this meant. The big demons were on their way.

There were 3 demons, each with two heads and large, curled horns. Their skin was a pasty green colour, adorned with sores and pussy wounds. Their eyes were dark yellow. Each foot had talons that if measured would likely be around 6 inches.

"These guys are UGLY!" Gajeel exclaimed.

The Demons 3 did not engage their enemy. They simply emptied their mouths of the breath they held. All non-demons on the battle field collapsed with the heat-like blast, their bodies writhing as they burned.

* * *

"Oh! Ms. Hearfilia!" Duke Antoine cackled as Lucy's eyes opened slowly. He was in his human form...the first form she'd seem him in. Beside him, the weird old butler from the house was jumping around excitedly, "How good of you to join us again!"

Lucy's head hurt as she glanced around her surroundings. It looked like a dungeon. She was chained to the walls with heavy cuffs. The stench was unlike anything she'd ever smelled before. Rotting flesh. She glared as she watched a trail of what looked like blood crawled across the floor. She noticed the multitude of bruises over her body and grunted in pain.

"Yes, that IS blood!" he laughed maniacally, following her eyes to the blood trail, "Want to know who's? I'll tell you all in good time. Welcome to my home. _OUR_ home."

She spat at him, "This will never be my home."

"Oh, but it will! You see, you're going to come with me back to the forest and help me get that egg down from the tree. Then we're going to come back here and you're going to open it for me. Then, we will live together in bliss. Myself, Lady Atria, and you."

"Like hell we will!" Lucy gritted her teeth.

"We will," Antoine said confidently.

"And why the hell would you think I'll agree to that?"

He laughed again, sending chills down her body. He slowly turned the wall ahead of her around. She did a double take, suddenly realizing it wasn't a wall at all, but a partition. She saw the blood first, then slowly allowed her eyes to look upward as she saw her precious Natsu tacked to the partition wall. He was bound to the wall the same way she was. His eyes were swollen shut, his head hung down to his chest. Massive wounds were all over his body. Burns even. Lucy shook her head. That was impossible. Natsu couldn't be burned.

"Look what you did to him," Antoine taunted, "I _told_ you I'd leave them alone if you would just surrender to me. You brought this on them. It's your fault...again."

She shrieked, her anger pulling at every corner of her being, "YOU BASTARD!"

"You're a tough cookie," Antoine told her, leaning into her face so their lips were millimeters apart, "You're a lot more confident than I thought you were and I needed to find other 'tactics' to get through to you. It seems someone's self-confidence is better these days than when I last did my research on you," he paused, licking up her face with a maggot-infested tongue. She writhed against the chains in utter disgust, wishing she could get the chain around his neck enough to choke him to death, "And here I thought that white-haired dame we possessed did _such a good job."_

He laughed, walking over to Natsu, "I will enjoy your body later. But I can go both ways. Your dragon slayer is _delicious_ looking," he ran a finger down Natsu's torso, licking the blood off his own finger with his tongue.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" Lucy screamed, fighting the urge to throw up.

Antoine dropped his hand,"Okay then, Ms. Heartfilia. It seems you understand what's at stake."

He walked back up to her, running a hand down her cheek lightly, "Take me to the egg," he told her sternly, "Retrieve it for me and I will release one of your friends. Any one you pick!"

"You have them all?" she gasped.

He hit a button. Suddenly, the floor dropped out and they were in an enormous hall. All of her friends were strung up, heads to their chests, and all beaten to a bloody pulp.

"Let them go!" she begged, "I'll...stay with you if they can all go."

"YOU'LL STAY ANYWAY!" Antoine thundered. For the first time since being in the dungeon, Lucy was truly scared. There was a murderous tone to his face, "You rotten bitch! I said ONE. Pick ONE. And only after you've retrieved the egg for me," he stalked up her again, pressing his body fully against hers and licking her cheek. She actually puked this time, right down his torso.

"Understand, Heartfilia bitch...if you cross me in any way while we're going to get the egg, they will all die. Every last one of them. And as for your guild...or what's left of it...well, let's face it...they're toast anyway."

He turned to his butler lackey, "Get her down!" he ordered.


	12. Chapter 12

Lucy didn't realize how bad she'd been beaten until they were forcing her to walk. Her legs were weak, barely supporting her weight as she was pushed forward, forced ahead. She knew she had a torso wound and her face hurt from multiple punches to it, or at least that's what she assumed. A line of probably 30 demons escorted her back to the forest to retrieve the backpack.

"Get it!" Antoine ordered.

Lucy looked up the tree, wondering if she had the physical strength to do climb the tree anymore. Forcing her body up the tree, it took her a good 10, painful minutes to reach the top. She paused...resting for a moment.

"MOVE IT!" Antoine screeched.

"Back off!" she yelled back, "I'm injured and I'm tired. I'm getting the damned thing, so chill out!"

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

She paused again, resting her head against the tree. That heartbeat again…

Which one? Which friend would she choose? Would he give her another chance to release more of her friends? Were they all doomed to literally rot in hell?

In the treetops level to her, Lucy caught a glint in her eye. She tried to see what was glinting, then stifled a smile when she realized it was Gildarts. She played it as coolly as she could, knowing if she gave away his position, it would be game over for him.

 _It's all up to you, Lucy,"_ Gildarts' voice sounded in her head.

Telepathy? Since when did Gildarts have telepathy? She glanced around the forest, noticing other glints. Warren. She realized. They were all here...the guild. Hope surged through her.

" _You will know what to do when the time comes_ ," Gildarts said that confusing phrase again, " _You can do this. You are strong. Time to save the world, Lucy! And we will get the others, so you just worry about your own skin."_

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

Lucy nodded, slowly raising her forefinger and thumb above her head. She knew she couldn't look around the forest, but she hoped they saw it. She hoped they saw that she got the message. She would not give up. Not today, not ever. And she knew they were watching. Even if she couldn't see them.

"What the hell are you doing?" Antoine demanded, "That's a long enough rest. Get the backpack and get your ass down here."

No longer afraid for the first time in days, Lucy put the backpack on her back and shimmied down the tree, looking straight ahead so as to not give away her guild members' locations.

 _"Godspeed, Lucy_." She heard in her head, " _We'll be right behind you."_

Lucy couldn't see the line of mages emerging from their hiding spot as the group of 30 demons and one angel left the forest, proudly displaying their response to her with their forefinger and thumb above their heads.

Antoine pushed Lucy down to her knees in front of the backpack, pain wracking through her body. She ignored it. This was it. Whatever she was supposed to do, it would happen now...in the next few minutes.

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

* * *

They were back in the dungeon, which Lucy discovered was _not_ in the pits of hell as she originally thought, but an old abandoned castle. Her friends were displayed on the wall for her to see, keeping her in line in case she got any funny ideas.

"Open the backpack and get out the egg," Antoine ordered.

She opened the backpack slowly, rummaging through the clothes and remaining supplies.

"FASTER!" Antoine demanded, "You're too slow! Do you _want_ your friends to die right now? Cuz I'll fucking show you I mean business!"

He punched Natsu in the gut to prove his point. Natsu was deeply unconscious, but his body shuddered.

Lucy obeyed, pulling the egg out and instantly noting the new shine to it.

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

"Open it," Antoine told her, anticipation dripping from his disgusting mouth.

"I can't open it," Lucy shot back, "I don't know how."

 _"Yes you do,"_ Gildarts' voice resonated in her head, _"I'm proud of you Lucy…You'll save us all_."

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

Suddenly, it all became clear to her and she knew what she had to do. She took a deep breath, fingers caressing the precious egg. _I understand now, Atria._

She rose to her feet, bangs shading her eyes as she stood. A crooked smile lined her face.

"OPEN IT!" Antoine demanded again, "DO NOT PISS ME OFF!"

New demons poured into the hall, much larger and much more aggressive. Lucy looked back as her friends stormed the guild…everyone giving it their all. Most of Fairy Tail's strongest mages were cuffed to wall, and yet, the guild was still fighting together. Still keeping the faith. There was no doubt now. She knew it would be worth it…to save Fairy Tail.

"Oh, you'll be pissed," Lucy said in a low, feral voice, "You're gonna be real pissed!"

Antoine's face showed utter confusion as Lucy held the egg over her head.

"OPEN - GATE OF THE CELESTIAL QUEEN - ATRIA!"

 _Thump….thump….thump….thump…._

This time the heartbeat was audible to everyone. The room came to an absolute stand still as the doorbell sounded and the walls started to shake. Bright light illuminated the entire hall, blinding the demons and sending them screaming as the light scorched them. Her comrades started to wake up with the bright light.

Lucy wasn't done, "STARDRESS - ATRIA!"

More glowing light appeared, this time surrounding Lucy. Instantly, her injuries disappeared off her body. Her hair turned white-blonde, stretching down to her knees in a single braid down her back. Her clothes disappeared, a white halter top dress appearing in its' place with golden sandals on her feet.

Before her, Atria, Celestrial Queen smiled gently at her. Lucy couldn't get over her beauty. Like Lucy, her long white-blonde hair reached to her knees and she wore a similar dress, but the lady was tall, majestic looking, and completely amazing.

Atria lost no time, sending out wave after wave of light. The demons were dying. Lucy jumped into action, slaying the demons as they made a last-ditch attack on the new duo. Atria's power, it seemed, was light purification. Lucy's whip went from gold to solid light as she flicked it over and over again.

Behind her, she heard the commotion of her attacking guild mates retrieving her friends from the walls and quickly escorting them out.

"Lucy!" Atria called, "We need your Celestial friends!"

"I can't! They're in a block of tar!" Lucy held her keys up for Atria to see. Atria grinned, shooting a light beam her way. Lucy's keys illuminated, the tar melting off of them.

"I'm lending you the strength!" Atria told her, "Call them all!"

Grinning widely, Lucy threw her keys up in the air, "OPEN! GATE OF EVERYONE!" She yelled.

Instantly, all 10 of her Zodiac spirits appeared at her side. They didn't hesitate, instantly jumping into the fight.

* * *

Chaos erupted in the giant room. Gildarts was watching the scene out of one eye and he led the Fairy Tail survivors into the castle/hall to collect their imprisoned friends. Nodding to Mira and Elfman, they split up into 7 groups – one group per prisoner. Gildarts had his own lovely daughter and Lisanna with him and they were going for Natsu.

When Lucy called out the Celestial Queen, they used the chaos to run to Natsu's wall. He was really out of it. They'd have to carry him. Using his sword, he cut the chains holding his friend, catching him as he fell into his arms.

"GO!" he whispered to Cana and Lisanna.

The two girls hurried for the exit, when they were blocked by a dozen demons. Instantly, Cana was throwing entrapment cards while Lisanna turned into a hawk, plucking at their dark, foul skins.

"Keep going, Dad!" Cana yelled out, "Get him out of here!"

Gildarts would not normally obey that order as he preferred to be where the action was, but in this case, there was no way Lisanna or Cana would be able to carry Natsu's dead-weight body out. He ran to the rendezvous point, meeting up with Elfman and Evergreen, who had Laxus, and Mira, who had Juvia.

"We've got to get back in there," Gildarts said, "Every able bodied person! The others might have problems moving Gajeel in particular."

* * *

But Gajeel wouldn't need to be moved. Gajeel was waking up. He noted the chaos ensuing in front of his eyes, pulling on his chains. As soon as he could maneuver his mouth close enough, he snapped the chains in half, freeing himself.

He broke off the wall, busting demons' heads as they got in his way. He was crossing the hall to Levy, ripping her chains off the wall and catching her motionless body.

"I've got her!" Mira grabbed Levy's body, running back out the way she came.

Nodding to Elman and Gildarts, the three started pounding demons for their revenge. Large monsters were crashing into the hall now.

"Where are they all coming from?" Gildarts yelled.

"It's been like this for days," Gajeel said, "Every attack is worse. Every attack is never ending."

"Warren!" Gildarts caught Warren's arm as he was running by, "The prisoners are all accounted for, right?"

"Except for Lucy," Warren agreed, "Any messages for her?"

"Yeah," Gildarts said, "I want to tell her I'm proud of her."

Suddenly, a large demon appeared overtop of him and the girls.

"NO!" Lisanna yelled, pushing Gildarts out of the way. The demon foot smacked down on top of her. Elfman appeared out of nowhere, slaying the demon.

"LISANNA!" Mira and Cana both cried out, running to her side. Elfman had made quick work of the large demon and joined them.

Lisanna was covered in blood. She coughed lightly, peering up at her siblings.

"No, Lis! We already lost you once!" Mira begged, tearing streaming down her face, "Don't do this."

Lisanna reached for both her siblings' hands, "I didn't mean what I said to Lucy," she said softly, "I wasn't myself. I don't why I would say anything like that."

"We know," Mira assured her.

Lisanna smiled again, "I'm not sorry that I'm going to die though," she whispered, "I don't think I was meant to stay in this world. It's tried ejecting me more than once. At least I got to spend more time with you. No regrets." Her eyes closed.

* * *

"Let me go!" Natsu was shouting, pushing Kinana out of the way, "I've got to go back in there!"

"You're injured! You can't go back in there!" Warren argued, "The rest will be out soon."

Cana grabbed onto Natsu's arm, "Natsu, let Gildarts do his thing..."

"NOT UNTIL LUCY'S AWAY FROM THAT LUNATIC!" Natsu shrugged off the people trying to restrain him, taking off at a full run to go rescue his girl.

* * *

"Bitch!" Antoine yelled, "I should've killed you when I had the chance!"

Atria laughed, her blonde hair shining brightly as she prepared her next attack, "Anwick, you fool...you can't kill me. Don't you know? Darkness thinks it can swallow the light, but if there is a single spark, darkness is no more!"

She flung her attack at Antoine, Lucy joining in to fight with her side by side.

"I loved you!" Antoine yelled.

"Well, I didn't love you!" Atria shot back, "And now, you will pay for your transgressions!"

Lucy and Atria attacked together.

"Lucy - do you remember 'that spell'? The one that vanquishes enemies?" Atria asked.

Lucy nodded, backing off to start the incantation.

"Lucy!" Atria caught her attention again, "You have to be sure. Your magic is overextended having all your spirits out, being Star-dressed, and attempting an incantation. This could kill you."

Lucy nodded again, trying not to think about it. She'd known in the back of her mind for days that something bad was going to happen.

Lucy concentrated, building up the spell as Atria fought Antoine. Loke, Aries, Virgo, and Cancer fought side by side. Taurus and Scorpio were tag-teaming some of the larger demons. Gemini and Capricorn fought back to back while Sagittarius sniped demons getting too close to allies. With the addition of the Celestial Zodiacs, Fairy Tail renewed their own fight.

Lucy took a deep breath, closing her eyes to concentrate.

 _Celestial Light, I beckon thee_

 _Hear my prayer and come to my aide_

 _Vanquish mine enemies and rid them of their transgressions_

"GET HER!" Antoine screamed to his minions.

Lucy was unprotected, concentrating all of her magic into this spell

 _Grant me this wish_

 _And evil shall be ridded from this place_

 _FOREVER!_

In slow motion, she saw Natsu yelling for her as he ran for her, "LUUUUCCCCCEEEEE!"

As if time were standing still, she turned to him and blew him a kiss, "I love you," she whispered.

Time sped up again. She released the spell, pulsating Atria's divine light throughout the whole forest. Instantly, every demon including Antoine disintegrated. Lucy looked up, realizing all her friends had been vacated. Every last demon was gone. All her friends were safe.

Her magic completed dissipated. In a blur of light, all the Celestial spirits disappeared. Lucy felt her stomach explode internally, unable to cope with the sudden loss of all her magic.

"We did it!" she said lightly.

Smiling gratefully at Atria, Lucy collapsed. Natsu ran to her side, panicking as he saw her go down. He picked her body up, holding her to his chest.

"You're okay!" he told her, panic in his voice, "We're gonna go home now. You did it…you beat him."

She smiled weakly at him, "Yes. It's going to be okay now," she repeated, stroking his cheek. She was pale.

"Luce," he whispered, "I love you."

She smiled again, kissing him softly on the mouth, "I love you more."

With an illumination of light, her body disappeared. Natsu fell to his knees, stunned.


	13. Chapter 13

The funeral let out. Each person was in line to place a rose on the caskets. Nab, Jet, Lisanna, and Wakaba had all passed away during the war. Furthermore, representatives of relatives of the villages that perished stood in line as well, celebrating the heroes that had given their lives to avenge the deaths of their families.

Natsu was dressed in black, paying his respect to his fallen comrades. There were some 350 deaths due to this war. 400 others were severely injured...but it was over.

To celebrate the return of the Celestial Queen, the King had adorned the heavens with ribbons of rainbow, dancing joyously down to Earthland. Lucy's spirits had returned home with Atria, her keys in Natsu's possession to pass along to another Celestial wizard. They had their own party in the Celestial World as the celebratory party continued on Earthland as well.

But Natsu could not be consoled. His beautiful, sweet Lucy was gone.

Walking away from the funeral, but not feeling like joining the new party at the brand new guild, he wandered to a secluded path, stopping in front of the shrine dedicated to Lucy. Tears dripped down his face.

He remembered the look on Yukino's face when he appeared at her door, dropping Lucy's precious keys into her hands. She had fallen to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. They cried together for hours.

He remembered Levy's despairing cries as they realized Lucy wasn't coming back when they went to clean her apartment.

He remembered Happy refusing to leave the apartment, then refusing to eat fish for days afterward.

Two separate funerals had been held for her. The first was the country-held one. She was being honoured as a hero, as she should be. The second was the private guild funeral. There wasn't a single dry eyes there as Makarov took the podium.

 _"Lucy Heartfilia came to us as a runaway from a rich family. She did not know the meaning of family or comradery. She did not understand that once a guild member, always family. Not at first. Over the years, we have all had the absolute pleasure of watching her grow and change. She laid her life on the line multiple times for all of us, but none so much as the last mission she took. I don't know if any of us understand the absolute chaos the world would have received at the wrath between the Celestial King and Antoine if things had progressed as Antoine wanted it to. Earthland would have been caught in the war between the worlds. Earthland would be destroyed. As it was, we suffered heavy losses. Lucy sacrificed her life to end the chaos. She gave her live willingly for her friends and family. She will be forever remembered as the hero that she was...and still is."_

He laid fresh flowers on the alter, kissing the image of her face.

He remembered Gray's words at the guild funeral.

" _Lucy Heartfilia was the closest thing I ever had to a sister. You all know I'm...a bit of an introvert."_

 _"A NAKED INTROVERT!" Gajeel had called out, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Everyone laughed, but the somberness of the moment could not be overtaken...not that day._

 _"Lucy saw through me," Gray continued, "She saw through the cold exterior that didn't want to know anyone deeply. She saw through the ruse that Natsu and I used to put up as enemies...and made us frienemies. Lucy was the one who encouraged me to lower my guard," He glanced to Juvia, "And allow myself to love. In all my life, I have never met a purer-souled person than Lucy Heartfilia. We all loved her immensely. Let us continue our lives in honour of her memory. She would want us to live our lives with happiness...and peace...and she," Gray's voice choked, "Would not want us to mourn for her forever. She...She..."_

 _Unable to go on, Gray had descended the podium, his beloved Juvia reaching for him immediately to comfort him._

He remembered when he discovered that she was gone and the fact that he'd been tranquilized for days to numb the pain.

He remembered her smile, her laugh. Her scent.

He remembered his own speech at the funeral.

 _"Luce was the only person that could tame me," he'd said in opening, "She walked into my life with a bang, and left with one. Luce was a friend like no other. She took me as I was - my good qualities, my bad qualities. She loved it all. And yes, I completely annoyed her at times," a few giggled erupted at this, "But she was always right there when I needed her. She forgave me when we fought. She Lucy-kicked me when I needed to get my head on straight."_

 _He paused, surveying the crowd, "Lucy loved all of us, so much that she would sacrifice her own life. We should not let this be in vain. She lived by the Fairy Tail code, and so must we. We need to carry on. We need to live and rebuild. More challenges will come our way. I'd like to believe that Lucy will be there with us in spirit, loving us the same way she did when she was here. I love you, Lucy...yesterday, today, and every tomorrow to come."_

He remembered their single night of bliss together.

He remembered every mission, every adventure.

Pressing his forefingers on her image's forehead, he whispered, "I love you, Lucy. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

The silent tombstone did not answer him. Being that he was completely alone, he decided he could vent. Master said it was imperative to his healing. Master had been very worried about him. They all had been. Lucy's death had seriously impacted all of them. The guild, however freshly rebuilt, would never be the same. But Natsu, was inconsolable. His anger level spiked at first, drawing whomever would take the bait into a punching match. But eventually, he turned zombie-like. He couldn't get himself to care anymore.

He punched a nearby tree, hitting it over and over again until his fists started to bleed. His fists roared to life with fire as he punched the tree until it fell over erupting into flames. Snuffing the fire out with his feet, Natsu stumbled across the clearing, collapsing against a rock facing the bay, his body convulsing in sobs.

Levy came first, curling into his body and resting her head on his chest. A few minutes later, Erza joined them on his other side. Tears rolled down their cheeks as they cried silently together. Soon, Natsu realized Gajeel, Gray, Laxus, and Juvia had one by one joined them, all of them placing a comforting hand somewhere on his body.

"I can't," Natsu sobbed heavily, unable to breathe straight through his tears, "I can't go on without her!"

Nobody said anything, unable to comfort their distraught friend.

He stood up, stumbling toward the water, "It was all for NOTHING! All of it! Life means NOTHING without her!"

Gray caught his arm, gently herding him away from the water lest he do something stupid, "It isn't nothing, Fire-Breath."

Even Gray's insults weren't getting through to him, "It WAS NOTHING!" He screamed.

Levy's eyes filled with tears again, "Natsu..."

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" He bellowed, kicking rocks, "Why her? Why couldn't it have been me?"

Falling to his knees, he buried his face in his hands, "It should've been me."

"You made a promise to her," Levy said softly, stroking an arm, "You told her when she came to Fairy Tail that she would never be alone again. And she wasn't. You made her life worth living. She loved her life."

"Do you really think it should've been you?" Erza asked, coming alongside of him again, "So that _we_ would be mourning _you? So Lucy would be mourning you?_ Do you not know how much we love you? We loved Lucy every bit as much as you. You are not the only one who hurts over this. But you have a choice. You can wallow forever and not live as Lucy would want you to, the way you yourself said in your speech, or you can stand up and look life in the face. The rest of us still need you."

Collapsing to his knees again, he whimpered. His voice was agonized, "But I need Lucy."

"We know, Flame Brain," Gray said gently, slinging an arm over Natsu's shoulder as he helped him up, "So let's go have a drink - to Lucy!"

Gajeel nodded, appreciating Erza's comments and Gray's out of character compassion, "C'mon Fire-Head. Let's go to the guild."

Nodding his reluctant agreement, Natsu got off the ground and went with his friends to start a long, painful recovery.

* * *

Lucy watched the scene, tears dripping down her face.

"He hurts so much," she said forlornly, "I just want to tell him I'm okay."

"I know," Atria said from beside her, "but you'll see him again one day soon. Natsu's destiny is not done yet. He's about to learn some new magic."

"Go figure," Aquarius spoke up behind them, "You finally landed yourself a _boyfriend_ and you give up your life to be a Celestial being."

Lucy nodded, thumbing the brand new Celestial key in her fingers...her key.

"I'll see you soon, Natsu," she whispered, "Wait for me."


	14. Chapter 14

_**Okay…not the end. I seriously considered ending it after the last chapter, but I'm enjoying this story and I want to see it through. Hope you enjoy the next chapters**_

 **2 years later….**

He could hear the whispers as he walked with Natsu down the street, but chose to ignore most of them until he heard the two teenage boys jeering outwardly.

"He's so _dirty!_ I heard he hasn't bathed in a couple years!"

"He's turned into such a _loser!_ Hard to believe he was ever one of the best in Fairy Tail."

Gray whirled around angrily, pushing both boys up against the wall, "AND STILL IS!" he thundered, making the boys quiver. They broke out into sweats. A fist held each of them by their shirts. Gray's dark eyes emitted his anger, "That's Natsu Dragneel," he hissed, "And he's saved Magnolia and even Fiore more times than you little shits have wiped your own asses! Show some respect!"

The boys' faces turned white, "We're sorry!"

"Gray," a gentle hand touched his shoulder, "Forget it."

Gray sighed heavily, releasing the teenagers. They scampered away and Gray once again found himself following his friend through the streets of Magnolia. Natsu was used to the whispers. He knew the people of Magnolia thought he'd lost his bravery and was now a wimp who didn't want to fight. It didn't bother him.

"They were being rude," Gray said in a dark voice.

"It doesn't matter," Natsu replied non-chalantly.

"The old Natsu wouldn't let them get away with that shit," Gray muttered under his breath.

"The old Natsu died 2 years ago with Lucy," Natsu shot back, walking ahead.

Gray kicked himself. Natsu wasn't meant to hear that comment. Sometimes Gray forgot that even with all Natsu's changes, he was still a dragon slayer and had excellent hearing.

"Another mission tomorrow?" Gray asked as they approached the guild hall.

"What for?" Natsu asked, "The grocery money from this mission will last awhile. I don't need any more jobs for a couple weeks. I'm heading to the mountains to train instead."

Gray sighed. _That_ was the new Natsu. He worked hard enough to get grocery money and spent the rest of his time training, away from everyone. Except when he went to the library. Natsu didn't fight with his guildmates anymore. He didn't destroy towns accidentally anymore. Natsu was a changed man. And although the entire guild had wished for a less-destructive Natsu in years' past, Gray wasn't the only one who missed that Natsu. At least he had been…. _happy._

They entered the guild hall and, like it always did when they entered these days, the sharp contrast in atmosphere hit them full force. The guild was not boisterous anymore. Teams sat at their usual tables, talking in low voices to each other. Cana's barrel sat untouched. She'd given up drinking to go to traveling with her dad after the Celestial War, traumatized by the events. The Request Board sat unattended. It was odd not to see Nab at his post. Levy sat with Droy and Gajeel at their usual table…now Gray's regular table too along with Juvia and Erza. As they entered, barely anyone even turned around to greet them.

Perhaps Natsu hadn't been the only one to change, Gray thought to himself. It had been 2 years. The deaths of their beloved comrades Lucy, Jet, Wakaba, Lisanna, and Nab had affected the guild heavily. It was like a different guild. The events of the Celestial War, as it was now dubbed, had frightened Fairy Tail to its' very core. Fairy Tail was not invincible. Not by a long shot.

Natsu waved at Gray as he went off toward Juvia and took his designated secluded stool at the bar alone.

"Usual, Mira," he said, not even looking up.

She slid a filled tumbler of fire whiskey his way, "How's it going today, Natsu?"

"Usual, Mira," he replied solemnly.

Her face fell. Every day, she hoped when she asked that question, she'd get a different answer. She patted his hand, then left to go serve the table that had just walked in. She had a hard time smiling too. She and Elfman had had to bury their sister, Lisanna, for the second time. This time, they knew she wasn't coming back. It hurt. But both she and Elfman had moved on. Elfman and Evergreen's son was now 3 years old and Evergreen was pregnant again. Mira…well, Mira had finally given Laxus a real chance and they were getting pretty serious. She wondered what it would take to get some of the old Natsu back… or at least make him smile more.

"Soooo," she said, a smile playing on her lips, "Did you see that Mickey is back? Isn't she adorable? She's grown up so much!"

Natsu turned to look at the pretty young mage, Mickey Chickentiger, who had left the guild some time during the 7 years they were at Tenrou Island. She smiled prettily, waving her gloved hand. Turning back to his drink, Natsu downed it in one shot.

"Thank you, Mira. I appreciate the thought, but I'm not interested," he paused, thinking about the three previous attempts to set him up, "And Mira? Please stop asking women to meet me. I know it's just cuz you care, but I don't _want_ to meet someone new and you aren't helping me move on by shoving new girls in my face."

Her mouth dropped open, a bit shocked, but then she nodded, watching him get up from his seat and disappear to the library. He needed to find his own way to move on, she realized, but after two years, was he planning to do so?

He could see Mira talking to Mickey as he left. Mickey's face fell like she was disappointed.

Natsu entered the library. It made him feel close to her when he read her books. Levy had naturally inherited Lucy's books, since she was such an avid reader too. However, sharing the pain of losing Lucy with Natsu, she had put together a secret stash of Lucy's novels for him to read in a corner of the library that nobody used. Those were his favourites. Lucy wrote amazing adventures. Sometimes they were loosely based off of their real-life adventures. Other times, they were her own creation. Natsu reached for the story Lucy had been working on before she died, a romance between a princess and her dragon. As he did, a Celestial Magic book slid off the piles of books and landed on his lap, opening to a page near the beginning of the book with a note stuck into it.

Curious, he picked it up and unfolded it.

 _Dear Natsu,_ it read.

A letter to him? He looked at the date. It was just after Hargeon.

 _I don't know how to thank you for bringing me to Fairy Tail! It's a dream come true! The guild is really wild and crazy sometimes, but I love it! I hope I can prove myself to be a great wizard! Thanks! ~L_

He grinned to himself. Silly girl. She could have said that to him directly.

Looking back to the Celestial Magic book, he wondered if there were other notes in there. He flipped a few pages before finding the next note.

 _Well shit!_

It started off.

 _I go and get myself an apartment and suddenly it's a safe haven for everyone to come and eat all my food and laze all over my furniture! Seriously…what the hell? Okay fine. I don't really mind. Honestly, the company is pretty nice. I don't feel so alone all the time. But they can't know that! I'm going to have to make a HUGE deal out of it so they get the point!_

He grinned to himself. He remembered the first time he, Gray and Erza crashed her apartment. Lucy was livid. Gray and Erza had gotten the hint rather well, but Natsu refused to adhere to the rules Lucy put down. Besides, her bed was really comfortable.

He sighed. Well, it was comfortable before. He had inherited the bed. It was now at his little house in place of the hammock. And somehow, it wasn't near as comfortable as it once had been. Lucy's scent had disappeared over the first few months and now it was just a bed.

He stuck the note back into its' page and flipped forward to the middle of the book, finding another note with the date being around the Grand Magic Games.

 _Dear Natsu,_

 _Today I suffered a major defeat. I would have beat that red-haired bitch if she hadn't had help from the outside. But nevertheless, I find myself thankful. Thankful because when I was feeling one of the lowest moments in my life, you came out to me in the middle of that field and made me get up. You were proud of me, despite my defeat. Sometimes I think you're a pain in the ass, but moments like those…well, I know that I've got a real friend in you. You're pretty awesome._

Natsu put the note back in the book, wondering how many of these had been written. It was obvious she did it often and he found it interesting that she hid them so carefully. He flipped to the end of the book, deciding to read only one more. These were Lucy's private notes, and although they made him feel closer to her, they were never meant for his eyes. He found another note, passing by several other notes to get to the last one in the book.

He sighed, looking at the date and realizing it was only a few days after he'd left her to train for a year after Tartaros. Suddenly, he wasn't sure he wanted to read it. When he'd left, he hadn't realized the guild would be disbanded the next day and Lucy would be all alone. The other guild members had left her, thinking naturally that she and Natsu would stay together. After he'd returned, it took months for him to re-earn her trust, even after the guild had been reinstated. He had really hurt her then.

Taking a deep breath, he turned his eyes to the page.

 _He told me I'd never be alone again. But here I am. Completely alone. Gray and Juvia left together today after I told them I'd be okay. That was before I knew he'd left me. Gajeel and Levy have been gone for days. A note. A fucking note. He abandoned me. He left a note that he'd be gone for a year – a YEAR – and walked away as if nothing would change. I don't know what I'll do now. I ran after him to beg me to take me with him, but as I got the outskirts of Magnolia, it occurred to me…if he wanted to take me, he would have. He doesn't want me with him. After all this time, our time together meant so little that he could just abandon me. I love him. I know I love him. But he doesn't love me if he can abandoned me like that._

A tear rolled down Natsu's cheek. Maybe he would take this book home tonight. Reading the notes made him feel closer to her. He thought about the irony of the note he'd just read. She was angry because he'd left her. Well, he knew how she felt now. Perhaps it was different since she'd died in his arms. She had no ability to control that. But ultimately, she'd abandoned him too.

 **LAST DEPRESSING CHAPTER – PROMISE!**

 **(well, kinda)**

 **From here on in, we're heading for adventure again.**


	15. Chapter 15

Natsu was sitting at the bar again with his fire whiskey, concentrating on reading the Celestial Magic book he'd found. He'd opened all the letters at home and read them, one by one. It was like reliving the memories with Lucy as he read them. He laughed, he cried, and he reminisced and now…he just needed a good, stiff drink.

Once all the notes were out of the book, Natsu realized the book itself was rather interesting. Celestial magic was a type of holder magic. He'd always thought Celestial mages were born into their magic, but upon reading the first chapter, he realized that holder magic was simply using an external source to summon the magic within. Lucy's gate keys served as her external source. The magic stemmed from her, to the keys, allowing her to power the spirits.

"You're reading?" Levy asked, coming alongside him.

He smiled, a rare sight these days, "Is that so hard to believe?"

"A little bit," Levy said softly, returning his smile.

These days, Levy was one of Natsu's closest friends. They bonded over their memories of Lucy. Gajeel watched their friendship with guarded interest. He only ever said anything to Natsu once about it and never mentioned it again, in essence giving his approval.

" _She's mine, Salamander_ ," he'd said. Natsu had nodded dumbly and that was that. Natsu supposed it was Gajeel's way of letting them both heal.

"It's actually really interesting," he told her, "I had no idea so much was involved with Celestial magic. Lucy had real talent. I mean, I already knew that, but not just anyone could do this."

"If Lucy were here right now, I'm not sure what would floor her more – the fact that you're reading an actual book, or the fact that you understand it and are interested."

He punched her arm playfully, earning a growl from the watching Gajeel, "Wanna read it with me?"

"Nah," she said, "But if you want, I'll lend you my speed reading glasses."

His face brightened. Laughing, she handed them over.

"You know, it's been awhile since you've smiled, Natsu. Lucy loved your smile. Do it more often, please!" she winked at him as she left to join Gajeel.

Natsu sighed. Yeah, it had been awhile. He knew that. It was time to find a way to be happy. Maybe if he couldn't move past Lucy, he should find a way to connect to her through things that she loved.

He got up with a determined look on his face and headed for the doors.

"Where are you going?" Mira asked.

"To see Yukino!" he announced. With more bounce in his step than anyone had seen in him for 2 years, he left the building.

* * *

Yukino was feeding the baby, singing at the top of her lungs to the music on her lacrima when the doorbell went. She opened the door, still swaying her hips when she realized she was face to face with Natsu Dragneel.

She squealed, throwing herself in his arms for a tight hug, "Natsu! I'm so glad to see you! It's been too long!"

Natsu nodded. It _had_ been too long. In fact, he was pretty sure the last time he'd been at her door, he was there to hand Yukino Lucy's keys.

She ushered him inside, "STING! STING, WE HAVE COMPANY!"

She picked up the baby, and made her way to the living, gesturing for him to sit.

"How are you?" she asked, her face alight.

"I'm okay," Natsu said, reaching for the baby. Yukino passed her to him.

"This is Sera. Say Hi Uncle Natsu, Sera! Hi Uncle Natsu!"

Natsu peered into the little one's face. She was just over a year old now. Her eyes shone like Yukino's, but her hair was all Sting. Blonde spikes adorned the top of her head. Thankfully, the back was a little longer and she had a feminine look to her. All in all, Natsu had to admit, she was _adorable_. Subconsciously, he wondered if maybe he and Lucy could have had little ones. Little pink-haired babies with brown eyes. Or blond babies with fire magic. His heart beat harder for a moment, then sunk. That couldn't happen now.

Sting came into the living room, a towel wrapped around his waist, obviously fresh out of the shower, "Flame-Brain! How the hell are you?"

Natsu stood up to shake his hand, Sera in one arm. Sting pulled him into a man hug.

"I'm okay," Natsu replied, "How are things here?"

"Busy!" Yukino supplied, rolling her eyes, "Little miss Sera here keeps Mommy and Daddy _very_ busy!"

"She's so cute," Natsu said, bouncing her on his knee. She laughed and he looked up to Yukino, surprised she was so easy to play with. Elfman and Evergreen's baby rarely laughed like that! He did it again, loving the musical giggle coming from the little girl.

"She likes you!" Sting was grinning ear to ear, "Seriously, Nats…you would be an amazing dad."

Natsu's face fell and he passed the baby back to Sting.

Glancing at Yukino, he nodded to her, already knowing instantly what his wife's thoughts were. The rumours were true...Natsu Dragneel had lost his ability to enjoy life.

"Okay Princess – time for a nap!" Sting swung Sera up into the air to obtain a giggle, then disappeared down the hall.

"Okay, spill it," Yukino said, moving closer to Natsu.

"Spill what?"

"You show up here for the first time in 2 years, still acting like a love-sick buffoon, and don't know what you need to spill?" Yukino asked incredulously, "Why are you here, Natsu?"

Natsu sighed heavily, "I miss her," he said plainly, "And it seems like spending time around the things she loved helps."

"I miss her too," Yukino said softly, squeezing one hand, "And don't think I haven't heard about you! As Master of Sabertooth, Sting hears everything. We know you're not doing that well, so if there's anything we can do to help you, please tell me."

"Can I see her spirits?" Natsu asked softly.

Yukino nodded, "I'm not as strong as she was, so I can only summon 2 at a time. I'll go get the keys."

She disappeared for a minute, returning with the golden keys. They shone with the golden luster he'd always seen in Lucy's care. She used to spend hours shining them up so they almost glowed. Kneeling beside him, she placed the keys in his hands.

He ran his fingers over the keys gently, remembering how proud she was of her spirits. Her friends.

"I've been reading about Celestial magic," he said quietly, "It's very interesting and I'm surprised there aren't more mages practicing it."

Yukino smiled, "Lucy and I were both born with the ability and we were both lucky to have great teachers. But you don't have to be born with holder magic, you know."

"I learned that in this book," he said, pulling out the book he'd kept close to him for the last several days.

"Would you like to try?" Yukino asked gently.

His eyes widened, "I'm a fire dragon slayer…I don't think I _could!_ "

She giggled, "It can't hurt anything. Stand up."

They stood together. She pulled her own original keys from her belt, "I'm going to call Libra, okay? Watch what I do. First, I'm going to put the key out, like I'm opening a door."

Natsu stood beside her, mimicking her movement. He selected Plue's key since it was presumably an easy spirit to call.

"Open – gate of the balance – LIBRA!" Yukino called. Instantly, Libra appeared before her, "Thank you, Libra. I was just demonstrating for Natsu. You can go."

Libra disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What do I say for Plue?" he asked.

"Open the gate of Canis Minor - Nicola," Yukino said.

He was completely unconfident and it was actually comical when he voice cracked as he called out in a high voice, "Open the gate of Canis Minor - Nicola."

Nothing happened.

"You aren't channeling your magic," Yukino scolded, "That was pathetic. Try again. Say it like you mean. Visualize the door opening and Plue coming out."

Natsu closed his eyes, channeling his magic energy until he could feel it coursing through his veins. He took a deep breath, turned the key and called out again, " _Open – Gate Of The Canis Minor_ – Nicola _!"_

He opened his eyes expectantly. Yukino gave him a half smile. No Plue.

"Why?"

"Because you still don't believe you can do it," Yukino explained.

He nodded, lowering his arm.

"What, that's it?" Yukino challenged, "Where's Natsu Dragneel? Where's the man that managed to make Lucy Heartfilia fall in love with him because he was capable of anything? Come on, Natsu! Get real here - Call on your energy, lift your damn arm and _call out that spirit!"_

She was almost yelling at him by this point. Natsu stuck out his arm, twisting the key, " _OPEN – GATE OF THE CANIS MINOR – NICOLA - PLUE!"_

He heard the familiar DING DONG and glanced at Yukino with absolute wonder in his eyes. Before him, jiggling anxiously, the little spirit gazed up at him. His carrot nose wiggled and he threw himself onto Natsu when he recognized him.

"Plue?" Natsu stared at the little spirit, trying to get onto his lap. He picked him up incredulously.

Beside him, Yukino grinned.

"That was…AWESOME!" Natsu exclaimed, hugging the spirit to him.

 **Just so you know, I'm not planning to make Natsu a celestial wizard.**

 **I have **other plans****

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	16. Chapter 16

"That was a little bit of a mean thing you did there," Sting said, wrapping his arms around his wife's waist. They both stared out the window at Natsu, happily playing in the yard with Sera and Plue. He was swinging Sera around in circles, reveling in her gleeful giggles.

"I don't want to think of it as mean. He needs the confidence," Yukino said, playing swatting his arms away when he gave her breasts a squeeze, "Natsu hasn't allowed himself any joy in a couple years now. When he starts experiencing life again, he'll begin to let go of the past. Calling Lucy's spirit was a start," she pointed out the window, "And that right there is another start."

"What did you do anyway?"

Yukino gave him a lop-sided grin, " _I_ called Plue out. Natsu was holding the key, but it was my magic that actually pulled him from his gate."

"And what will you tell him when he figures it out?" Sting asked, pouring himself another cup of coffee.

"I only did it once," Yukino replied, "He did it this morning on his own."

Sting nodded, "And when do you plan to tell him…about Lucy?"

Yukino sighed, turning from the window, "Not yet. He's smiling under his own power for the first time in two years. Let's try to keep him smiling for a few days before he goes all _Natsu_ again."

Sting suppressed a smile. They'd been waiting for Natsu to come to them for two years. A little while longer couldn't hurt.

Natsu brought the baby in after about an hour. She was rubbing her little eyes.

"Sera's tired now," he said, smiling affectionately at the baby. She reached for her momma and Natsu passed her over, "Seriously, you guys…she's so perfect. She's gorgeous."

He had sent Plue back on his own. He didn't feel a drain on his power, but remembered Lucy never kept them from the spirit world for long. It was great to see Plue again. It was like seeing a part of Lucy.

"You look happy," Sting commented, eyeing the daze in his friend's eyes.

"I guess I am," Natsu realized.

"Stay with us for a few more days," Yukino offered, "Go to the guild with Sting. They're building a waterslide for the pool and could use your help. We can work on summoning larger spirits when you come back. Maybe a break is just what you need."

Natsu nodded, "Okay."

Natsu went with Sting to Sabertooth, shaking Orga and Rogue's hand as they welcomed him. He spent the afternoon helping with the waterslide, then tested it out, screaming like a little kid. Instantly, he regretted his decision. He was motion sick and hurried for the garbage can, throwing up the awesome lunch Yukino had packed them.

When they returned to the Eucliffe home that evening, Yukino had a large spread on the table for them. For the first time in a long time, Natsu felt hungry and devoured as much as Sting did. They played a few games of cards after supper until Yukino announced she was heading to bed.

As Natsu retreated to the room they'd given him for a second night, Yukino squeezed Sting's hand lightly. Natsu was showing glimpses of becoming Natsu again.

It was the fourth day when Natsu decided it was time to start heading back to Fairy Tail. He approached Yukino in the garden to thank her for her hospitality, having already said goodbye to Sting.

"Natsu," Yukino smiled gently, "Sit with me for a few more minutes."

They walked over to the gazebo and sat side by side on the swing.

"I appreciate everything you've done the last couple days," Natsu said.

She laughed lightly, "It's been a joy seeing you get out of that shell, Natsu. Maybe the change is just what you needed, right?"

He nodded, "I'm going to go home and try to keep it up, starting with taking a few missions…and sitting at the table with my friends instead of by myself."

"Good," she said, grabbing his hand.

He glanced at her, confused as she placed something in it.

"Luce's keys?" he asked.

"You should take them," Yukino said, closing his hand over top of them.

"I don't understand."

"Well, there's something I need to tell you. Make sure you're comfortable because this might be…awkward for you to hear."

Natsu's brow furrowed, "Okay…is it bad?"

Yukino shushed him, sitting across from him on a chair opposite the swing so that she could keep his full attention.

"Two years ago, Lucy called upon the Celestial Queen Atria."

"Yesss," Natsu said slowly, "I was there. I remember it all too well."

"In doing so," Yukino continued, her voice low and quivering, "Lucy made a contract with the Celestial Queen, who in turn granted Lucy with the power to wipe out the entire House of Dorthos. Her body went into overload with the magic Queen Atria lent to her, then into shock with the sudden depletion. Shortly thereafter, Lucy's body collapsed and disappeared."

"Yesss," Natsu said again, "Where are you going with this?"

"Natsu," Yukino bent forward, taking his hands in hers again, "Lucy _didn't die_."

Tears started to stream down Natsu's face as he stood up, shaking Yukino's hands from his, "That's cruel, Yukino! Why in the hell would say something like that?"

"Because it's the truth!" she stated, her voice strong as she tried to hide her own emotions, "Natsu, Lucy is still alive. She's been in the Celestial World recovering from her injuries. She is bonded to the Celestial Queen now and she can't come back until her key is contracted to another."

"Her key?"

"Lucy…" Yukino lost her resolve, dissolving into tears, "Has been contracted. Instead of dying, she ascended to the Celestial Kingdom. Well, I guess it was a _form_ of dying, but she's still Lucy. She's just a Celestial spirit now."

"No," Natsu shook his head, "I can't believe that. Why wouldn't she find some way to tell me?"

"She can't!" Yukino raised her voice, "Natsu! Listen to me! She – is – alive…and she's waiting for you!" Her voice dropped to a quivering mess as her tears streamed down her face, "There is a key that is Lucy's. It's meant for you. And you have to find it."

The pain in Natsu's face was excruciating. All this time, he'd thought she was dead. Suddenly, his face expression changed, "She's alive…"he whispered, "And we can be together?"

Yukino nodded, "You need to find her key. When you find it, you can become her new contractor and she can come back to you."

"Why would the Celestial Queen do such a thing? Take her away from me like that? Not tell me she's alive?"

"Because it was take her from you temporarily and make her a spirit, or death...permanently," Yukino replied, "It was the only option. Queen Atria had no intentions of separating you forever. But Lucy was dying. She had to make a quick decision."

"Then why did I have to suffer for 2 whole years?"

Yukino wished she had better answers. She wished she could console Natsu better, but she only knew what she'd been told by her own spirits. A message had been passed to her through Pisces after she'd gained Lucy's keys. Yukino had known for a long time now that eventually Natsu would come to her.

"Celestial time is different than Earthland time, Natsu," she said softly, "It's only been 6 months there. And it's taken all 6 of those months for Lucy to recover."

"But she can come back to me? As in _back to me_?" Natsu asked, "She won't have to live in the Celestial World? She can come home with me?"

Yukino nodded, "Essentially, you'll break the contract with the queen, which she will do willingly. The King and Queen are indebted to you for bringing them back together. You might think of this as a gift from them rather than 2 years of hell."

Natsu nodded, absorbing all the new information, "So what do I do now?"

She pressed the keys into his hands again, "Go home," she said simply, "Lucy will start sending clues."

"Okay," he said, squeezing her hand before letting it go, "Yukino…thank you."

"You can thank me by finding Lucy and naming your first born after me!" she giggled, waving as she disappeared into the house.

Natsu sighed deeply, then turned on his heel to start the journey home. He walked slower than normal, needing the entire walk to process the information jammed inside his head.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Please feel free to leave me a review or two. I'm just having too much fun with this story…**_

* * *

 _ **YUKINO'S HOUSE**_

The first call was no big deal, although by Yukino's estimates, Natsu had pretty much called the second he made it back to Magnolia. Yukino picked up the lacrima, welcoming Natsu's voice. Sera squealed, recognizing her friend.

"Hey Yukino! Hi Sera!" he greeted, "I was just wondering - when is Lucy is going to start sending me signs? What will the signs look like?"

"I'm not sure, Natsu."

"Well, why doesn't she just _appear_ in front of me?" he asked, "If she's waiting for me, she must know how anxious I am."

"You know how Lucy needs to find Aquarius's key?" Yukino asked, "The contract between Lucy and Aquarius was broken when Lucy broke the key to summon the Celestial King, so in order to work with her again, she has to find the new key. Same idea - you'll need to find it."

"Okay! Thanks! Bye!"

20 minutes later, the 2nd call came in.

"Hey Yukino, WHERE do I start looking for her key? She ain't coming when I try to summon her...what's the trick?"

"I don't know, Natsu. Maybe you should pinpoint places on a map of Fiore. Places you've visited or gone on missions to in the past. I'm sure when the time comes, you'll recognize it. And Natsu, remember your promise to sit with your friends...don't spend all your time on this."

"Okay! Thanks!"

It was the next day when he called again, "Nothing's happening! I've been listening and meditating and even trying to pay attention to my dreams! It sucks, cuz I never remember my dreams in the morning, no matter how hard I try."

"Natsu," Yukino sighed deeply, trying not to show the slight annoyance she felt, "Be patient. It's only been 2 days. I don't have the answers you're looking for."

"Okay! Bye!"

He called later the same day.

"Yeah?" Yukino answered with a sigh.

"Hey Yukino - if Pisces brought you the message the first time to you, can I talk to Lucy through the spirits? Kinda like that kid's game Telephone?"

"I don't know, Natsu. Why don't you try it."

"Great idea!" he exclaimed, "Bye Yukino!

There was another phone call first thing the next morning on the 3rd day.

"Hey Yukino - Plue can't tell me shit about Lucy. Weird. I used to be able to understand him perfectly."

"Sorry to hear that, Natsu."

"Me too," he laughed nervously, "Well, gotta go! Bye!"

The 3rd night, the lacrima went off yet again. Sting and Yukino looked at each other.

Seeing the frustration in Yukino's face, Sting put a finger to his lips in a Shh motion. Yukino giggled, but didn't go pick up the lacrima. They tiptoed around the house for the rest of the night, even though Natsu was miles away in Magnolia and would not know they were home even if they made noise.

The last time the lacrima rang, Yukino blinked twice. It wasn't Natsu this time, but Fairy Tail. She excused herself from her company and took the call in the kitchen, sometimes having to repeat herself twice to get the message across the rickety line. Finishing the call, she returned to the living room, sitting back down on the couch.

"So sorry about that," she said, picking her tea up again, "Now where were we?"

The company smiled pleasantly, picking up their conversation where they'd left off. But she'd heard that conversation, or at least Yukino's end of it. Almost every word of it.

* * *

 _ **DOWNTOWN MAGNOLIA**_

Natsu was walking through town with a gigantic map in his arms. Once again, the whispers of the townspeople echoed in his ears.

" _It's a shame...he used to be so animated...now he's just pathetic."_

 _"How long is he going to mope? I know at least 10 women who could take his mind off that Lucy-chick."_

 _"Something's different about him today. Did he just smile?"_

" _You're right. There's a new spring in his step."_

* * *

 _ **FAIRY TAIL GUILD HALL**_

 _ **(Third**_ _ **day back from Yukino's, between phone calls... LOL)**_

" _What in the hell is he doing?"_

Gray pushed through the crowd. Almost the entire guild were gathered together, nearly silent other than whispers of, "Holy shit – he's finally lost it," and "Okay, I knew he was weird, but this is a whole new level of weird, even for him."

Gray caught up to Erza, Juvia and Levy, trying to break between them so he could see. Their mouths were agape, staring at Natsu as though he had 3 heads.

Natsu sat on the ground, criss-crossing his legs. His eyes were closed and he held both hand the in the air, his fists held open in a circular position. He was humming loudly, almost obnoxiously, and he was completely oblivious to the fact that he held the attention of the entire guild.

"LUUUUUUUCY!" He yelled suddenly in a gigantic voice. The entire crowd jumped back, shielding their faces. Natsu continued to ignore the crowd, eyes closed, throwing his arms wide open, "COME FORTH! I BECKON YOU TO MY SIDE!"

"Damn!" Gajeel commented, joining his friends at the front of the spectacle, "He's finally jumped off the deep end, eh? What the hell is he doing?"

Levy looked backward to him, before returning her stare to the dragon slayer, who was now doing some kind of weird dance movements, "I think he's trying to summon Lucy."

Erza stomped her foot, "He needs help. I'm going to get Makarov. I think it's time to send him to a doctor."

With that, she disappeared into the crowd.

"Hum-in-a, Hum-in-a!" Natsu was chanting now, resuming his sitting position.

Gray stepped in front of the crowd, spreading his arms, blocking their view, "Okay, people! Show's over. Go work or drink or…I dunno – live your _own_ lives."

The crowd murmured as they dissipated, whispering among themselves. Gray sighed. Natsu had been home from Sting and Yukino's for 3 days. And he had been acting strangely the entire time.

It had started from the moment he got back. He had slammed the doors open, flinging his arms up in the air like he used to years ago when they'd had a successful mission. Instead of cheering and welcoming him home, the guild looked at him like he'd had toilet paper sticking out of his pants or something.

Stomping over to the counter in his old fashion , where he lifted his legs high in the air, fingers threaded behind his head, he approached Mira for his usual, then to her absolute shock, he'd picked it and wandered to the table of his comrades and _sat with them._

Not only that, but he kept up with the conversation and had them laughing at times.

"Well," he had announced, getting up from the table and stretching a full-body stretch, just like he used to, "Gonna go spend time with Happy! He's never home anymore! Spends all his time with Wendy and Carla! I wonder why!"

And just like that, he had marched from the guild, mouths agape as he left.

It only got weirder from there. The next day, Natsu returned to the guild, citing his own table where he could spread maps of Fiore. He put on glasses (even though he had immaculate eyesight) and began pinpointing random places on the map. He worked with amazing concentration. Again, the guild had watched with mild interest at first, then more interest as Natsu stared at his masterpiece with a delighted grin, then proceeded to tack the map to a board beside the job board, exiting the guild hall without saying a word to anyone. He appeared about 2 hours later, wandering over to the board and removing one of the tacks, marking the spot with a giant red X, then left a second time. He offered no explanation.

And now this.

He sat down beside the dragon slayer, criss-crossing his legs much like Natsu.

"Dude," Gray said quietly, "We gotta talk."

Natsu ignored Gray, continuing his strange chant of "Hum-in-a, Hum-in-a!"

Following Gray's lead, Levy, Gajeel, Droy, and Juvia formed a circle with the already-sitting boys.

"Natsu," Levy tried to get his attention, "Can you even _hear_ us?"

Natsu broke his trance, opening one eye to view the circle formed around him. His body remained rigid in the yoga meditation position.

"Oh hey guys…thanks for joining me! Means a lot, really it does!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gajeel snapped, "You're fucking crazy!"

"Gajeel!" Levy warned, "A little sensitivity please."

Gajeel grunted, "We've been tip-toeing around Natsu for 2 years. Maybe what he needs is a dose of reality."

"Gajeel!" Juvia snapped, "Shut up please."

Harrumphing, Gajeel crossed his arms and shut up.

Gray turned his attention to Natsu, who had temporarily given up his yoga pose so he could open both eyes and concentrate on his friends' strange behaviour. Sometimes his friends were so weird.

"So…wanna tell us what happened to snap you out the depressed stupor you've been moping in for the last two years?" he asked.

"Oh _THAT_!" Natsu grinned ear to ear, "You're not gonna _believe_ what happened!"

" _You're right about that_ ," Gajeel whispered into Levy's ear, " _We probably ain't gonna believe a WORD of it."_

Natsu flashed a happy grin at Gajeel, reminding him he still had dragon slayer hearing, "Seriously…you're gonna love this."

Erza and Master Makarov stood along the outward edge of the circle now as Natsu leaned forward, almost to the middle of the group, a big dopey grin illuminating his face as he announced his news, dramatically emphasizing the last word, "Lucy….is... _**alive**_!"

Gajeel face-palmed as Levy grabbed his shoulder, shocked to the core. Not because she believed Natsu, but because her heart literally broke to pieces when she saw her friend so hopeful. Juvia gasped in disbelief. Natsu had finally broken.

"My boy," Makarov was the first to speak, "I think it's time for you to see Porlyusica again."

"What for?" Natsu asked innocently, "I feel better now than I have in months!"

Erza laid a hand on his back, "We all want Lucy to be alive," she said gently, "But Natsu, Lucy isn't coming back. She died. We thought you were finally coming to terms with that."

"Hell no!" Natsu stood up, facing Erza with a look of utter defiance, "Yukino told me when I saw her that Lucy is alive. She's trapped in the Celestial world until I find her key. Once I find it, I can call her home," he glanced from face to face, registering the disbelieving expressions.

"Do you have proof?" Juvia asked slowly.

Gray pinched her for even entertaining the idea that his story could be true.

Natsu held up Lucy's keys triumphantly, "I've got her keys!"

"But Yukino had her keys all this time," Levy said slowly, "She just gave them to you, right?"

"Well, yeah," Natsu admitted. He looked from face to face, sighing as he got off the floor, "Okay, it's fine that none of you believe me. Hell, it sounds unrealistic to me too. But as of tomorrow morning, I'm leaving on a quest. I'm finding Lucy's key and I'm bringing her home. I would extend the invitation for you to come," he looked from face to face, "But I can see how much you believe me by the looks on your faces."

Nobody spoke. Nobody denied what he was saying, yet everyone felt the pangs of guilt.

"It's okay. But please don't try to stop me. I need to do this. If she's really gone, then maybe I'll finally get some closure. But if there's a chance…even a tiny, slight sliver of hope…I have to go."

He pushed through his friends and left the guild, not looking back. Once again, Natsu had frozen the entire guild with his antics. The only sound in the room was a sobbing Levy as Gajeel stroked her back soothingly.


	18. Chapter 18

Natsu stretched, a mighty yawn erupting from his very empty stomach.

Forcing himself out of bed, he lumbered to his backpack and dumped the remnants from the last trip onto the floor. He paused, realizing this was _exactly_ the kind of thing he _shouldn't_ do if he planned to have Lucy come back to live with him. Her apartment was gone, so chances were, they'd live here together. He made a mental note to talk to Mira about cleaning it for him and packed less dirty things into the backpack. Maybe Mira would do his laundry too if he paid her enough. He unrolled his bedroll, wrinkling his nose at the musty smell. Apparently, he'd forgotten to air it out. Chucking it aside, he grabbed the spare bedroll, adding it to his backpack.

His stomach reminded him again that he was hungry. Going to the secret stash that he and Happy kept, he pocketed a good amount of jewel for his trip. He could always come back for more if he needed to.

Looking around the place, he nodded to himself. Yup. He had everything. His eyes fell to the bed and he stared at it.

"I'm coming for you, Luce," he said under his breath.

He locked the door behind him, as Happy wasn't really staying much there anyway. He told Natsu he'd just continue staying with Wendy and Carla while he was gone. He marched up the path in pretty good spirits when his stomach reminded him one more time that he really needed to eat.

He changed direction, giving in to his stomach and marching back to the guild. Maybe Mira would give him breakfast and he could ask her about cleaning his house for him. As he neared the guild, he saw Gray and Juvia dropping their backpacks outside the door, obviously there to get their breakfast as well before heading out on a mission.

"What's up, Flame-Head?" Gray said in greeting, opening the door to allow Juvia through.

Natsu nodded his greeting, going straight to the counter to order.

"I'm hungry, Mira!"

She laughed, putting a large plate of eggs and bacon in front of him. He sat at the counter alone, enjoying probably the last good meal he'd have for awhile.

Remembering to ask Mira about cleaning his place, he dropped some extra jewel on the counter before saluting her, "Well, seeya!"

She smiled, "Be safe, Natsu. Remember where your home is, okay?"

He nodded, "Look after Happy, k? Keep a tab of his fish. I'll take care of it when I get home."

"Sure thing, Natsu."

He nodded to various guild members as he made his way to the door.

"You should take your map, "Master Makarov said, appearing out of nowhere beside Natsu.

"Gramps! You scared me!"

"I hope you find what you're looking for, Natsu," Master said honestly, "It's been a long couple years and it would be good for you to find peace again," he leaned forward, hugging his boy firmly, "Bring her home," he whispered in Natsu's ear.

Natsu's eyes widened slightly. Master believed him?

After rolling up his map from the board, Natsu pushed open the doors of the guild to the outside world, ready to begin his new journey. As he adjusted his eyes to the blinding light of the sun, he glanced down the stairs and paused.

Gray, Juvia, Levy and Gajeel were standing there, backpacks on, ready to go.

"Got a mission?" Natsu asked, starting down the stairs.

"Yeah," Gray said, walking after him. The others followed.

Natsu didn't turn his head back to observe them, "Catching the train?"

"Nope," Gajeel said.

The five of them walk in a horizontal line, Natsu in the middle. They were nearing the edge of Magnolia. Natsu stopped, the others clamouring to a stop around him.

"You don't have to do this," he said softly, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah," Juvia said, "We do."

"I'll be fine," Natsu said, "Go home."

"That's just the point!" Levy said, smiling brightly at him, "You _are_ fine…for the first time in 2 years, you're smiling and acting like Natsu again."

"Doesn't matter whether we believe you or not," Gajeel said, thumping Natsu's back, "You believe it. And you were right. If there's a small chance this could be true, we owe it to you and to Bunny Girl to find out."

"Plus," Gray added, "The more you become more like the old Natsu, the better chance that I'll have to kick your ass soon. We haven't had a good brawl in _ages!_ "

Natsu didn't know what to say, so he shuffled his feet in the dirt before mumbling a, "Thanks guys."

He started to walk again, the others falling into step with him.

"So where are we going?" Levy asked.

"No clue," Natsu replied.

"What are we looking for?" Juvia asked as they entered Magnolia.

"Dunno!" Natsu shot her a mischievous grin, "You really want to come? Knowing I have no clue what we're looking for and no idea where to find it?"

"Hell ya!" Gray slapped him on the back, "We wouldn't miss this chance to laugh at your ass for nothin'."

The girls exchanged glances. Natsu didn't know about the call to Yukino and Sting the guild had made after Natsu left last night. She had explained everything to them and suddenly, Natsu's renewed sense of life made a lot more sense. More than that, there _was_ actually a glimmer of hope that Lucy was not lost to them. They knew they had to help Natsu through this. Hope beyond hope, Natsu would realize at the least that even if they didn't find Lucy somewhere during their journey, all his friends cared and supported him, no matter how crazy he was acting.

* * *

 _Hargeon._

They entered the town, nostalgia smacking Natsu in the face as he remembered the first time he'd seen the beautiful blonde, fan-girling over the fake Salamander. He wasn't sure what made her shake off Bora's enamouring spell, but she didn't stay fooled for long. He remembered her first demonstration of power with Aquarius and how they'd taken down Bora together. It seemed so long ago now.

"So where do we start?" Levy asked.

This was Natsu's show. The others had no better clue about what they were looking for or where to look for it than he did. So, they would rely on his instincts.

"The wharf," he said monotonously, "That's where I first saw her."

They moved in silence and stood at the busy marketplace, taking it all in.

"Don't suppose her key would end up in a magic shop?" Levy suggested. She was pointing to the only magic shop in Hargeon. Natsu remembered it well.

"Let's check it out," Gray suggested.

They entered the tiny shop single file, their large backpacks proving to be a bit of an issue.

"Welcome!" the same old man from all those years ago smiled, "What can I do for you today?"

"Have you got any Celestial keys?" Juvia asked.

"Just this one," the shopkeeper held up a small, silver key, "It's Ursa Minor. Little bear constellation."

"We'll take it," Natsu said, quickly forking the money over without trying to barter. He remembered Lucy's story about bartering this man, trying to get the price down with her feminine wiles. He found himself fighting the urge to smash his nose in.

"Ursa Minor," Gray said slowly as they walked out of the shop, "Wish we could see it."

Natsu's face lit up, "We can! Watch this. This will impress _THE HELL_ outta you!"

Dropping his backpack on the ground to give him a bit more wiggle room, Natsu held the key out the way Yukino had showed him.

"OPEN! GATE OF THE URSA MINOR!"

The familiar DING DONG sounded and a fuzzy brown teddy-bear-like creature appeared.

Natsu bent down beside his new little friend, "Hey little guy! What would Lucy name you? Boots? Muffin?"

The others were staring at him in disbelief.

"Since when can you open gates, Dip-shit?" Gajeel demanded.

"Oh – I didn't show you? I can totally open gates now. Yukino showed me," Natsu pet the little bear on the head, "But I'm not very good yet. So far, I've only been successful with this little guy and Plue."

"Well shit!" Gajeel and Gray exchanged glances, "Who knew Salamander could learn more than one type of magic?"

Unable to resist, the girls were petting the little bear as well. His face was adorable with large, shiny eyes. Beyond that, his fur was soft and he seemed to like the contact.

"POOKEY!" Natsu said suddenly, "It's the perfect name!"

"OH POOKEY!" the girls echoed.

"Oh brother," Gajeel rolled his eyes

"Oh _sickening!_ Pookey is the perfect name?" Gray mused, "Hey Fire Tits, I didn't even like it when Erza used that name to tease you and Lucy that night. _Pookey._ "

Levy and Natsu each took one of Pookey's hands and started down the road to find a hotel.

"Seriously? It's gonna be Pookey?" Gray yelled after them watching their retreating backs, "OH C'MON! What self-respecting bear wants to be called Pookey?! NATSU! You can't be serious!"

Realizing he was being left behind, Gray jogged to catch up.

"That bear is going to have complex, Flame-Brain! And it's all going to be on you! Hope you're happy now! Did you hear me, Natsu? COMPLEX!"

From the shadows, a lone figure watched the scene, stifling laughter of his own, then continued to follow the wizards. Tomorrow, he would approach them. He needed at least two of them to help him with the job.


	19. Chapter 19

Natsu stared at the ceiling of his hotel room. It had been a long night. With Erza not with them to chaperone, the two couples had split off for the night without much discussion. Gajeel and Levy were still unofficial, but Natsu was not about to be a third wheel and instead coughed up the jewels to spend the night alone in a room. He should've just found a park bench. It probably would have been more comfortable. The bed was as hard as a rock. Plus, he just _happened_ to have the room next to Gray and Juvia's and knew for a fact that they hadn't slept much overnight either.

He thought about Lucy, not that that was unusual, but this time he actually _thought_ about Lucy. Did she know he'd started looking for her? Was she going to make the sign obvious to him? Had she suffered without him as he did without her?

"I miss you," he said under his breath, "And I really wish you'd hurry up and give me that stupid sign. Or at least point me to what I'm looking for."

Accepting that sleep wasn't going to happen again for him, Natsu got up, showered quickly, and headed downstairs for the continental breakfast. He guessed that was one okay thing about rooming alone…the bathroom was all his.

Natsu loved continental breakfasts. He had his choice of pancakes, bacon, waffles, fruits, and yogurts – unlimited quantities. He loaded his plate up and sat at a corner table, then went back for his coffee.

Once seated, he took out his miniature map to choose the next destination. Obviously, Hargeon was a bomb, other than obtaining Pookey. There was no indication of anything worth noting at all. He realized he'd probably have to travel all of Fiore and he still might not get a sign from Lucy's key. He didn't know how to look for a Celestial key. With that thought in mind, he pulled out Lucy's Celestial magic book again, realizing he hadn't actually read past the first chapter. He flipped to the back of the book, looking up _Celestial Keys_ in the glossary before turning to the page it indicated ¾ of the way into the book.

He scanned the page, looking for anything that might indicate how to search for a Celestial key.

 _Celestial Keys_

 _Most Celestial keys can be bought in a magic shop in most towns. However, sometimes wizards receive them as compensation for a mission or inherit them from other Celestial wizards._

The paragraph went on about how to make a contract, etc., which he promised himself he'd read later, but he couldn't find any text anywhere about tracking Celestial keys.

"Luce," he whispered under his breath, knowing he'd been talking to her a lot lately, "I need some help. Please tell me how to find you."

He sighed, waiting. Flipping the pages of the book, he suddenly paused.

 _Celestial keys that are lost will often emit a heartbeat to Celestial mages that are listening for them. This is the key calling to the mage. The heartbeat cannot be heard until the mage is within range of the Celestial being._

He paused, remembering the heartbeat that Lucy was hearing from the egg. Atria was calling out for her.

"Are you calling for me, Lucy?" he whispered forlornly, "I don't know where to look for you."

By the time the two couples made it downstairs, Natsu was drinking his fourth cup of coffee, still pouring over the book.

"Find anything interesting in that book, Cowboy?" Levy asked, sitting beside him while Gajeel went to get some breakfast for her.

"I'm stumped," Natsu admitted, "I did read that a Celestial key will emit a heartbeat when a Celestial mage is close. Like what Lucy was hearing. But I don't hear anything, Levy."

She smiled gently, placing a hand over his, "Then she's not in Hargeon."

Gajeel growled lowly until Levy removed her hand.

He nodded, too disappointed to say anything.

"Oh c'mon Lava Head," Gray put his plate down on the table, "You didn't really think we'd find her on the first day, did you?"

Keeping his gaze downward, the other wizards already knew the answer to that question.

Gajeel and Juvia joined the table, sitting next to their partners.

"We should go to Crocus," Juvia suggested, "It's the capital. Tons of places to hide a key."

"Wouldn't it be more remote?" Gajeel asked.

"Possibly," Juvia admitted, "but wouldn't you think Lucy would want to be in a place where we have memories? She wants us to find her, so would she not have her key somewhere we'd think to look?"

"That's if she gets a say in where her key gets hidden at all, "Gray reminded.

"Atria didn't mean to separate us forever," Natsu said blankly, "She only meant to keep Lucy as long as it took for her body to heal from the explosion the magic she borrowed caused inside her body. She wants to make sure we get to be together."

"So where do you think we should look next?" Levy asked gently.

Natsu paused, taking a deep breath. He took out his map of Fiore, spreading it across the table, surveying it carefully.

"I think by process of elimination, Juvia's right. We need to go to Crocus," Natsu agreed, "Plus, the princess is a Celestial mage too. Maybe she can help us."

Gajeel nodded, "Crocus it is then."

"You know," Levy said, looking from Gajeel to Natsu, "We'd get there a lot faster if we took a train."

"NO!" they shouted together.

Juvia shrugged her shoulders at her friend, "I'm willing. Gray?"

"Me too!" Gray agreed, "Oh hey wait…have the invincible dragon slayers been _outvoted?_ "

"This is my mission and I say we're not going by train!" Natsu harrumphed, making the girls giggle.

Juvia, Levy and Gray stood up.

"Then we'll see you there!" Gray grinned, beginning to walk away.

"Stupid Ice Bastard," Gajeel muttered under his breath.

"Evil Ice-Dick," Natsu agreed.

They stood there with the arms crossed for a minute, fist-bumped at each other's insults, then ran to catch up with the others.

* * *

Several hours later, Natsu exited the train, falling to his knees to kiss the ground. Gajeel followed suit. The three other mages stood by awkwardly, waiting for them to finish their post-train ritual.

"When they're bending over like that," Gray said, watching the other two get up from their kneeling position, "It's so hard not to go over them and kick them in the ass."

Juvia snickered, imagining the two dragon slayers on their faces. That would spark a fight for sure. It was actually a miracle the three of them weren't in each other's faces already. Or at least Gray and Gajeel. Although Natsu had bowed out of the daily brawls at Fairy Tail over the past 2 years, Gray and Gajeel had been regular participants.

"So Hisui first?" Natsu asked, having regained his composure.

"Yeah," Gajeel said half-heartedly, looking around the area nervously.

"What's wrong?" Levy whispered to him.

"We're being watched," he whispered back, "Stay close, okay?"

She nodded. After all these years, she had learned to trust her socially-awkward dragon slayer.

They walked to the castle, which took seemingly hours.

"So what…are we going to just walk up and bang on the door?" Gray asked.

"Pretty much," Natsu said, walking up to the gate.

"YO! GUARD DUDES!"

"The castle is closed to outsiders!" the guard at the gate called out.

"We're friends of the Princess," Natsu called out, "We need to talk to her. Tell her Natsu from Fairy Tail is here."

Gajeel was still sniffing around, furrowing his brow at the odd smell, which seemed familiar to him, yet not. Gray was noticing his uneasiness. With a tic of his head, Gajeel pointed backwards to the shadows of the alley behind them. Gray nodded, then looked back to Natsu. He'd noticed something off too.

"Natsu, take Levy and Juvia with you," Gray suggested, "Five is a lot to take in to the Princess."

"Sounds good," Natsu agreed, "We'll see you in a few minutes."

"You're cleared to come in," the guard announced, opening the gate for Natsu, Juvia and Levy. The three of them started stepping through, Natsu pausing to cast a backward glance at Gray and Gajeel.

"You got this?" He asked.

The boys nodded. With that, Natsu followed the girls inside the gate without hesitation.

Gray and Gajeel didn't hesitate either. Nodding to one another, they separated, surrounding the building behind them from two separate sides to trap whoever was in the alley between them.

"IRON DRAGON IRON FIST!" Gajeel yelled, striking the figure first.

"ICE MAKE: CAGE!" Gray slammed his fist, instantly caging their stalker.

"Who the hell are you and why are you following us?" Gajeel demanded, getting his first look at the stalker.

Gray peered into the cage, chuckling as he released the cage, "Well, I'll be damned."

"No wonder you smelled so familiar. You smell like Erza," Gajeel smacked the man on the back, "It's been awhile. Good to see you, Jellal."


	20. Chapter 20

Hisui greeted them at the door with hugs, "Natsu. Juvia. Levy. It has been far too long."

"It definitely has," Levy agreed as Hisui led them to the couch. Levy and Juvia sat together on the couch, Natsu and Hisui taking the two plush chairs on either side.

They were in Hisui's private chambers to give them privacy. Hisui had asked the guards to leave.

"How is your father?" Juvia asked.

"Oh, he's fine. You know my dad," Hisui rolled her eyes, "Pumpkin season is coming. He's away right now, selecting the finest pumpkins to pick when it's time to take them off the vine."

Natsu let out an audible sigh of relief. The King was away.

Hisui glanced at him, a gleam in her eyes, "Don't worry, Natsu. He's forgiven you…for the flames on our castle and _also_ the crown incident."

Natsu turned red, "I knew I was forgiven for the Fairy Tail calling card, but I didn't know you knew about the crown."

She laughed, "It was kind of obvious when it was returned in the general mail with the return address of 'Natsu Dragneel'."

"Oh," Natsu said dumbly.

"Anyway, I know why you're here, so let's get down to business."

"You know?" Levy asked.

Hisui nodded, "I've been waiting for 2 years for this visit," she admitted, "You're looking for Lucy's key."

Natsu's eyes brightened, his earlier embarrassment forgotten, "What can you tell us? How do we find Lucy's key?"

Hisui smiled again, "Well, as you know, I'm a Celestial mage too."

"Did your spirits tell you like Yukino's did?" Natsu asked. He was excited now. The trip to Crocus on that god-forsaken train might have been worth it after all.

"Kind of," Hisui said, "I have a bit of a confession to make."

The three looked at her expectantly.

"I am a Celestial mage," she said slowly, "But I'm also a Celestial being."

Natsu's mouth dropped open, shell-shocked.

"You may have noticed I don't really have all that many spirit keys."

Levy nodded, not actually remembering Hisui summoning anyone the entire time they'd known her. However, she'd had access to the keys that forced Lucy's spirits back to the Celestial Kingdom during the Celestial Rebellion. Even Lucy had never heard such a type of key existed before visiting Hisui that time.

"That would be because Tomo is not my real father."

She took a deep breath, rather enjoying their shocked faces.

"In truth, I am the daughter of the Celestial King and Queen."

"No way," Natsu breathed, "How is that even possible?"

She leaned in like she was about to reveal an even bigger secret. Subconsciously, the other three leaned intoo, "I am a _lot_ older than I look."

She giggled, enjoying the reactions of her friends.

"Fiore needed an heir. You might have noticed the lack of family resemblance. Anyway, after my mother was trapped into the egg, my father also didn't want to take the chance that something would happen to me. So he sent me here with Tomo as my guardian. Every 50 years, our appearances change as do our names so it's not obvious to our kingdom. Nobody has ever questioned it. Two birds with one stone."

"So what can you tell us about Lucy?" Natsu pressed.

"Lucy's key is not in Crocus. I'm guessing you already knew that."

Juvia nodded, "We didn't think it was, but wanted to come here to talk to you."

"So where is it?" Natsu asked again, clearly impatient.

"I would suspect Lucy's key is somewhere you've been recently…as in, the last 10 years. Even I don't know the exact details. When a key is re-born, it is the spirit's choice where it gets hidden, so I'd say your best bet is to look at places that meant something to Lucy."

"We were already thinking the same thing," Juvia said, "To look in familiar places, I mean."

"Can you tell how I will know if I'm on the right track?" Natsu asked.

"The heartbeat," Hisui said, hand over her heart, "You'll know you're close when you hear the heartbeat. Much like Lucy heard my mother's from inside the egg."

"Okay," Levy grimaced, "We already knew that too. Natsu has been doing his research."

Hisui raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"Do you…" Natsu paused, looking at his hands to avoid eye contact, "If you're a Celestial being, do you _talk_ to Lucy?"

Hisui shook her head, "I'm contracted to Earthland with Tomo. I can't come and go freely."

She noted the distraught look on his face and knelt beside him, taking his hands and resting hers in his lap, "Natsu, what I can tell you is that she wants to come home. She loves my parents and everything in the spirit world, but her place is here with you."

"If I could call Loke, could he talk to her and deliver a message from me?"

"In theory," Hisui agreed, "but I don't think Loke would be all that easy to summon. He's the leader of the Zodiac and as such, he uses an immense amount of power."

"One more thing," Natsu said awkwardly, "When I find the key and I summon her, what happens if her key breaks?"

"Well, that probably won't happen. It takes a humongous amount of power to break a key. However, if it were to happen, her contract to you would be broken, just like her contract with Aquarius was broken. She'd be between a rock and a hard place…literally. Because by coming to you, she's breaking her contract with Queen Atria, she won't be able to return to the Celestial Kingdom. She also wouldn't be able to stay here. She'd be in limbo."

"So, make sure nothing happens to the key," Juvia stated.

Natsu nodded, somewhat comforted, "And what about her spirits? Will they remain contracted to her?"

"Yes," Hisui said, "She'll remain a Celestial mage. If anything, the entire ordeal will leave her stronger. Since she was contracted with my mother, a part of my mother's strength will always reside in Lucy. Much like you," she pointed at Natsu, "END resided in you. The evil part of him is gone, but there will always be a part of him inside of you. Possibly his immortality, possibly his strength. Nobody really knows. The point is, you can't really get rid of what composes you."

"Anything else you can tell us?" Levy asked.

Hisui nodded, "Everyone is rooting for you, Natsu. My parents, the Zodiacs, every other spirit. We all want you to find Lucy. You've come a long way in the last week. Don't give up. Take the time to listen to your heart."

"I tried meditating," Natsu sighed, "It wasn't effective at all."

"Thank you," Juvia said, bowing.

Natsu was deep in thought.

"Natsu!" Levy called. The girls were already up and headed for the door.

Natsu gave Hisui another hug and left the room, deep in thought.

 _You can't really get rid of what composes you_.

Shoving the thought out to pasture, Natsu followed the girls back to the gate.


	21. Chapter 21

Jellal, Gajeel, and Gray split up in 3 different directions, stalking the hooded figure. Gray ran along the roof of the building adjacent to the hurried figure, attempting to cut her off. Gajeel and Jellal flanked her sides on the crowded streets.

Gajeel gave a low whistle, indicating the figure was changing directions. She'd figured out she was being followed. She turned down a back alley, right into Gray's path. Gray used his ice magic to bridge the gap between buildings, effectively cutting her off as he dropped down in the alley in front of her. She turned to run the other way, only to find Gajeel and Jellal in front of her.

"You're pretty slippery when you want to be," Jellal commented.

"Yeah, well, you're a persistent bastard when you want to be," she shot back, "And you _still_ had to hire some thugs to help you get me."

Jellal smirked sarcastically, "Had I known it was you, perhaps I wouldn't have gone to such measures."

Gray chuckled. He still didn't know who this chick was, but she was definitely given Jellal a challenge. Gray had martyred Jellal in his mind. After all, _anyone_ who could deal with Erza on a romantic level ought to be respected. Plus, he'd proved himself time and time again with his activities with the Crime Sorciere Guild, who had been exonerated a few years back for their work during the Tartaros events. Jellal was a free man, but he still fought with Crime Sorciere, unable to exonerate himself. He had, however, been able to allow himself Erza's love.

"Take your hood off, you twit," Jellal quipped, "Seriously – it's still early fall. Aren't you boiling?" He sounded like he was talking to a little sister.

She smacked his hand away when he tried to bring the hood down, bringing it down on her own afterward.

"Sorano!"

Gray lowered his gaze, remembering his last encounter with Sorano.

"How are my spirits?" she spat sarcastically, remembering that in the end, Sorano paid for her crimes. Lucy had inherited her spirits as she could no longer practice Celestial magic without them. She did, however, still have her Angel magic.

"You bitch," Gajeel started for her, Sorano quickly hiding behind Jellal.

"If we're done here," Gray looked at Jellal, "I can't stand her face. You good, man?"

"Wait," Jellal said, "I need to know why she's been stalking you."

"What?" Gajeel asked, "If someone was stalking us, I'd know. I figured it out almost right away when I figured out _you_ were watching us."

Jellal shook his head, "Nope. I'd been following you for days as a favour for Erza. She couldn't join you right away, so she sent me to watch over you," Jellal laughed lightly when Gajeel swore under his breath, "Don't feel bad. Crime Sorciere have become experts in being stealth. It's one of the reasons we are so successful in bringing down dark guilds."

He paused, turning to Angel again, "I don't, however, know why Angel here is stalking you. We don't keep secrets in Crime Sorciere. What's your game, Sorano?"

She spat at his feet, "I don't have to tell you shit."

"Yeah, you do," Gajeel said, turning his arm to iron, "Because if you don't, I will _turn you_ into shit!"

Jellal placed his arm across Gajeel's chest, blocking his advance, "Let me talk to her."

Gray and Gajeel were still sore at her for the events at Tartaros, Jellal realized. But, Jellal preferred to deal with things without violence. Since both of them were ready to strangle the girl, it was probably better if they left her to his devices.

Understanding that Jellal had a friendship with her and would have better luck getting answers, Gajeel and Gray left. They'd barely turned out of the alley when they heard the THUMP. Barely glancing at each other, they turned back to see Jellal on his hands and knees, blood seeping from the back of his head.

"What the hell happened?" Gray asked, both he and Gajeel breaking out into run to get to Jellal.

"Seems Angel is not working alone," Jellal stood up shakily, "And I'm apparently not as attuned to people in the shadows as I thought I was. He came up from behind, smacked me in the head, and disappeared with Sorano before I realized what had happened."

"So did you get any answers?" Gajeel asked.

Jellal shook his head, "All I know is that she was following you since the start of your trip. We will need to be extra vigilant now."

"We shoulda dealt with her _our_ way," Gajeel grunted under his breath.

"Are you coming with us?" Gray asked.

Jellal shrugged, "Might as well. Erza would kill me if I left you to your own devices. And there's no point in following you secretly anymore since you already know I'm here."

" _Left us to our own devices?"_ Gray asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well, Flame-For-Brains IS in charge of this expedition," Gajeel pointed out.

"Good point," Gray agreed, "Speaking of Fire Pit, I bet they're done with Yukino now. Let's go see what they found out."

* * *

Rustyrose had Angel by the elbow as he steered her through town.

"You idiot! You jeopardized everything!" he hissed at her.

Arriving at their accommodations, he pushed her through the door. She fell to her knees as he punched her across the back repeatedly.

"Do you not understand what's at stake here?" He yelled at her.

"Y-yes," Angel said meekly, shielding her face from his raised fist above her face, "I- I do understand, but I didn't get caught on purpose. Jellal couldn't catch me on his own. He had help!"

He smacked her, causing her to fall backward and clunk her head on the bed frame behind her, "You cannot be so careless!"

She was crying now, again shielding her face and he picked her up by her shirt and threw her on the bed.

"Okay," he said soothingly, pulling her into his arms, "Shhh… You know I love you, right? Don't cry anymore. You're forgiven."

Sorano didn't react to his sudden change in personality, letting him touch her body, even though he'd just finished beating her into submission. He kissed down her neck, barely noticing how rigid her body was. He was getting scarier by the day.

About 6 months ago, he had approached her. After being exonerated by the King of Fiore, Crime Sorciere took regular breaks between bringing down guilds. She had first noticed the small personality changes in him then. Still, she was highly attracted to Rustyrose and had been for some time, so when he asked her to go with him, she didn't hesitate.

Even so, he had to persuade her 'the hard way' when she refused to go along with his plans earlier last year. She couldn't even remember what happened at that time, except that he was still hell-bent of getting Grimoire Heart back into operation. She had finally had enough of the personality changes and tried to leave him. That was the first time he'd hit her. She couldn't go to Jellal or anyone else in Crime Sorciere. If she did, they would know what she and Rustyrose did sometimes in their off-time from Crime Sorciere in their attempts to resurrect the dark guild. It was direct betrayal.

She couldn't go to her sister, Yukino, either. Yukino's husband, Sting, was so straight and narrow now that he'd turned the Sabertooth Guild around. They'd never understand. Moreover, they'd report Sorano and Rustyrose for their activities.

He was thrusting into her now, oblivious to the pain he caused as he pressed on her new bruises. She bit her lip and endured it. Maybe she deserved the pain for all the pain they were about to cause. If their plan was successful, Grimoire Heart would rise from the ashes. And it was entirely possible, their success would end Fairy Tail once and for all.

 _ **Cue the ominous music. I'm so glad to see so many people enjoying this story as much**_

 _ **as I enjoy writing it! Please feel free to leave a comment!**_


	22. Chapter 22

Natsu was sitting in front of the map again, looking at his pin points (which were now marked with a marker since traveling with a map that had thumb tacks in it proved not only ineffective, but kinda painful). He was searching for places he'd forgotten, or perhaps for places that could be considered more special to Lucy than others.

He listened half-heartedly as the girls recapped their visit with Hisui to Gray, Gajeel and Jellal.

Jellal had been a bit of a surprise. When the boys returned to the hotel with him in tow, the first thing they noticed was the lump on his head. Right away, Levy had run to get an ice pack. They were currently all in Levy and Gajeel's room, swapping their findings of the day.

Jellal pressed the ice pack to his head with a hiss, "I can't believe I got mugged."

Natsu furrowed his eyebrows, but did not look up from the map. Somehow, he was pretty sure that's _not_ what happened to Jellal, but much like any statement from Erza, it was better not to question it.

"So what did you boys do today?" Juvia asked, kissing Gray on the lips.

The boys exchanged glances. They had unanimously decided to keep quiet about their stalkers. Natsu had enough to worry about and they didn't want to scare the girls, not that the girls were push overs.

"Ice cream/fruit pie," Gray and Gajeel said at the same time.

The girls looked at them, heads cocked. Natsu smiled to himself. The girls weren't that stupid. They knew something was up too.

"How are you doing there, Flame-Brain?" Gray asked, happy to change the subject. He leaned over the map, eyeing Natsu's multitudes of X's, "We gotta check _all_ those places?"

"Nah," Natsu said, looking over his map again, "I don't think so. I originally marked all the places Lucy and I have ever been on the map. Now I'm just marking the ones that meant something to us."

"Akane Beach," Levy said, checking the lump on Jellal's head. He grimaced when she removed the pack, "Remember the week we spent there as a result of one of our missions? That was fun."

"Yeah," Natsu replied, "I got that."

"Galuna Island," Gray suggested, "It was kind of bad at first, but it ended up being a good experience."

Natsu nodded. He didn't have that. He carefully marked the island as a possibility.

"Dawn City," Gajeel said gruffly, "We went to that mansion that time to protect some girl at a dance. If I recall, you and Bunny Girl were awfully close that trip."

Natsu sighed, marking it on the map.

"Well, we're technically right in the middle of Fiore right now," Levy said, offering Jellal some medication for his headache, "So we can go anywhere you want next."

Natsu studied the map carefully again, not answering her.

"We know it's not Hargeon and it's not Crocus," Juvia grabbed a beer out of the fridge, tossing one to Gray and Gajeel, "So where was _special_ , Natsu? Somewhere that meant something to both you and Lucy?"

"Tenrou Island?" he said slowly, half a question. He remembered the battle with Kain…the look on Lucy's face when she refused to leave Natsu to battle him alone. He remembered when Happy took control of Mr. Cursey and forced Lucy and Natsu into 'compromised positions'. He remembered using Lucy's body through Mr. Cursey to defeat Kain. Would that be special to Lucy? It was the first time he'd entertained the thought that maybe she cared about him as more than a friend too.

"That's kinda nuts, man," Gajeel said, drinking back his beer in pretty much one swallow, "I don't know if there's a lot of good memories _there_. We all lost 7 years of our lives."

Natsu didn't mark Tenrou Island.

Levy didn't like how quiet Natsu had been since their meeting with Hisui. She sat beside him for a moment, studying his serious face. He glanced up at her, trying to manage a half-smile.

"Why don't you take a break?" she asked sweetly, "Let's go check out the night life of Crocus."

"No thanks," Natsu stretched his arms up, "I'm on the tired side. And I have too much to think about. You guys go ahead," he rolled up his map and headed for the door, "If you don't mind, I think I need some time alone."

He shut the door behind him to retreat to his room. Tonight, he would share with Jellal.

"Sometimes he's better, sometimes he seems so depressed," Juvia said softly, looking at the closed door with a sigh, "I wish I knew what to do to help him."

"We're helping him the only way we can," Gray assured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and kissing her forehead, "He is definitely coming along. He's the most focused I've seen him in 2 years…well, maybe _ever._ "

"It might take forever to find that key," Gajeel kicked his feet up on the sofa, pulling Levy beside him to cuddle, "How long do we follow him?"

Jellal took the ice pack off of his head, examining the blood on the cloth, "Be patient. You've been on your journey for what…3 days? I have an inkling we won't be looking forever. Something tells me things are about to start moving faster."

"What gives you that idea?" Levy asked.

"It's simple, really, "Jellal said, "It will dawn on him what place Lucy thinks is the most special for them. I don't think he knows yet, but I'm willing to bet that sooner or later, it'll come to him. And when it does, he might really need us for support."

Gray caught Jellal's eye, asking him mentally if he thought now was a good time to tell the girls about Sorano. Jellal shook his head subtly. Maybe now that she'd been seen, Sorano would go her own direction. Then again, Maybe not. Either way, there was no need to induce pointless panic.

* * *

Natsu was dozing off in the comfortable hotel room. He'd laid in the bed, staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, recalling memories and trying to think about what Lucy would consider special.

He knew he was falling asleep. His eyes were heavy. He welcomed the heavy feeling. Often times, sleep provided a reprieve from the constant thinking he'd done lately. Sometimes it seemed like _every_ memory with Lucy was special and he had trouble deciphering why one place would be more special than another. As long as he was with her, it was _all_ special to him.

 _He was standing in a meadow, long green grass surrounding him._

" _I'm dreaming," he realized._

" _I forgot how handsome you are," a sweet voice said behind him._

 _He turned to her, marveling in her absolute beauty. He could smell her strawberry-vanilla scent so clearly. Her hair was down well past her butt, blonde curls caressing her gorgeous body. Her luscious breasts were barely contained in her trademark halter top. He skimmed her long legs with his eyes._

" _I have missed you," she said breathlessly, running to wrap her arms around his torso._

 _He kissed her longingly, "Not as much as I miss you."_

 _They kissed for several minutes, Natsu reveling in her taste, the way she smelled, her hands exploring his body._

" _We don't have much time," Lucy said, regretting it even as she pulled away, "If we're going to talk, we need to do it right away."_

" _Why?" Natsu asked, "Wouldn't you rather –"_

" _Yes," Lucy said right away, "But you're only dreaming and dreams don't usually last long. Besides…aren't you sharing a hotel room with Jellal tonight? I'm not sure he'd appreciate you having that kind of dream."_

 _He nodded, pausing as he gazed into her eyes, "Are you real?"_

 _She shook her head, "No, I'm just your subconscious trying to make sense of what you've done today."_

 _He continued staring into her eyes. He couldn't tell if that comment was sarcastic or if she was actually just in his subconscious._

" _You're working very hard to remember a place that would be special to us," she ran her fingers down his face, "A place I would think to hide a key. We have so many good memories."_

" _Can you help me? All the memories are special to me. I can't think of one that stands out above the rest."_

" _Oh c'mon, Natsu. You're telling me some memories don't make you happier than others? You were remembering Tenrou Island earlier and what you were thinking about were good memories. But were they game-changer memories?"_

" _Game-changer memories?" Natsu repeated._

" _Think about the memories, Natsu. Something will stand out. What was the game-changer?"_

" _But Luce, they're_ _all_ _special to me."_

" _You've almost got it," Lucy whispered, "Don't worry. It will come to you. Think about what brought you and I close."_

" _LUCY!" Natsu yelled, reaching for her as she became luminescent, "Please don't go! You just got here!"_

 _Tears streamed down his face as he reached for her, his hands swiping through her fading body._

" _Please Luce! Don't leave me alone again! I need you. I need you so badly!"_

 _He collapsed to his knees in the field, weeping loudly, "Please don't go!"_

"Natsu! Natsu!"

Natsu stirred, recognizing his body was being shaken by a gentle hand. He looked up, eyes still half-closed with sleep.

"You were having a nightmare," Jellal explained his actions, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Natsu sat up, rubbing his tear-infested eyes, "I'm fine."

It was morning. He got out of bed and retreated to the bathroom, hoping Jellal hadn't seen the tears streaming down his face.


	23. Chapter 23

It was the morning after the morning of the dream. They had traveled all day the day before to Natsu's next destination of choice, namely Akane Beach.

It was true. The week they had spent there was one of the happiest vacations he'd ever had. Erza had very much insisted on proper sleeping arrangements, so Lucy, Levy, Juvia and Lisanna had shared a hut, Erza, Mira, Wendy and Carla in another, and Cana, Bisca, Laki, and Evergreen taking up a third. The boys kind of slept wherever they wanted, regardless of Erza's carefully made plan. Some didn't even sleep in beds, just opting for the closest floor or sand dune.

He remembered the first night. They had a beach party. Lucy had been wearing a beautiful wrap-around beach dress with her bikini underneath. When the party started getting out of control, Natsu and Lucy walked the beach. What had started as a simple stroll turned into an all-nighter of talking, laughing, and swimming. He remembered how she'd clung to him in the water, afraid of what could be lurking under the water in the dark. He'd almost kissed her that night. In the end, he chickened out. Was that special to her?

The others followed behind Natsu silently as he walked the beach ahead of them, lost in his own thoughts. At one point he got excited as heard a definite, "Thump…thump…thump…thump." But then, he realized they were visiting Akane Beach during the Harvest Festival. A marching band was just down the street and what Natsu had heard was simply the beat of a drum.

"We should stay here a few days!" Levy suggested, "It's the off-season, so there won't be so many tourists."

"Oh, let's do it! It's so romantic here!" Juvia exclaimed, reaching for Gray's hand, "Can we, my love? It's been such a long time since we've had any kind of vacation."

"Go ahead," Natsu muttered, leaving them standing in the sand, "I have work to do yet...It's not here."

They glanced at one another solemnly, then hurried to catch up to Natsu.

* * *

Over the next 2 months, they visited city after city, place after place. Memories swirled around Natsu's head as he remembered why each place was special, but he never once heard the tell-tale heartbeat that they were close to Lucy's key.

Somewhere in the 2nd month, Erza had caught up to them. Natsu was painfully aware he was the sole leftover in the group of couples. Gajeel and Levy finally made it official on their visit to Matza Valley, announcing their new union to their friends.

The winter had set in. Natsu was leading the group through the mountains near Waas Forest through 2 ½ feet of snow when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Natsu?" Levy asked softly.

"We're not going to find it," he said quietly.

"Of course we are!" Erza said confidently, "We're running out of places to look. Surely we're narrowing down on it as we speak!"

"No," Natsu hung his head, "That's it. We're done."

He changed his path as he continued through the snow, not looking back at his friends.

"Natsu, where are we going?" Gajeel yelled, "I thought we were going to Cait Shelter's old grounds!"

Natsu shook his head, not responding out loud. He kept his path steady, "It's time to go home," he said monotonously, "We're not going to find it there either."

"No way!" Gray shouted, rushing ahead of the group. He placed his body in front of Natsu, pushing him back with both hands against his chest, "We've come too far! Erza is right! We've checked a lot of places and if we haven't come across it yet, then that just means we're getting closer!"

"Get your hands off me," Natsu growled.

"NO!" Gray screamed in his face, pushing Natsu back again, "What the hell, Natsu? You can't just give up! Lucy is _waiting_ for you! You can't just decide it's too hard and quit!"

"Shut the hell up, Gray!" Natsu pushed back, "You have no idea how hard this is on me! You wanted me to quit wallowing. FINE! I'll quit wallowing! When we get back home, I'll join up with you and we'll go on missions again. And I'll be happy about it, like the awesome shithead that I am!"

"This is not just about you!" Gray sneered, pushing Natsu back a 3rd time, "We're here too! We've followed you all over Fiore, chasing this key. None of us are giving up! Who the hell do you think you are? _WE LOVED HER TOO, NATSU!_ "

"FUCK YOU, ICE BASTARD! IT'S NOT THE SAME THING AND YOU KNOW IT!" Natsu snarled, as he charged Gray, toppling him over in the snow.

He punched his face. Gray let out a roar and flipped himself over to punch back. It was an all-out brawl now, but Gray and Natsu weren't playing. Juvia gasped as Gray head-butted Natsu, spraying blood from Natsu's nose. Natsu retaliated by smacking Gray's head into a nearby rock.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Jellal asked Erza.

Gajeel smirked mischievously, "Hell, I might even join 'em!"

Erza nodded toward the trees, signaling to leave them alone to duke it out. The group followed her, Juvia casting a worried glance behind her as she disappeared from his view.

An hour later, Gray had blood dripping down his forehead and face. He swung his fist, connecting with Natsu's jaw again. Somewhere along the line, his shirt had come off. Natsu caught the next fist, twisting quickly to lock it behind Gray's back and brought his elbow down to Gray's neck - hard. They both fell to the ground, breathing rapidly.

"You're an asshole!" Gray stated.

"And you're a fuck-tard!" Natsu shot back.

"Feel better?" Gray asked after a few minutes. Their breathing had gone back to normal. They lay side by side in the snow, looking up into the sky.

"Yeah," Natsu admitted.

"I've kinda missed pounding the shit outta you," Gray spat out some blood.

"As if you could!" Natsu said hotly.

"You're not really going to give up, are you?"

Natsu paused, starting the feel the new aches and pains he'd just earned himself, "I dunno, man. We've been everywhere. Maybe it was some kind of sick joke."

"You're so stupid," Gray laughed.

Natsu turned his head, glaring at Gray.

"Seriously Flame-Head…you piss me off."

Natsu didn't say anything, so Gray took it as his cue to continue.

"Never once did Lucy lose faith in you. Even the year you left her, as hurt as she was, she waited for you. You're what…3 months in and calling it quits? Do you even love her?"

Natsu rolled over, punching Gray's face again, "FUCK YOU! I've never loved anything or anyone as much as I love Lucy!"

Gray stood to his feet, resuming his fighting stance. Across from him, Natsu had also risen to his feet, fists aflame.

"You wanna go again? Let's do it!" Gray yelled, "I'll beat the shit out of you as many times as it takes to make you realize you're being a fucking idiot!"

"How does deciding to go home and move on with my life make me a fucking idiot?" Natsu shouted back, "Gray, we've exhausted our options! You all have lives that you deserve to live! I can't expect you to keep following me around forever!"

Gray lowered his wrist, eyes suddenly wide, "You're right – let's go home!"

"Huh?"

"We haven't checked the place that Lucy loved the most!"

Natsu's eyes widened as wide as Gray's, "Oh my Mavis…I can't believe we didn't think of that sooner!"

The boys grinned at each other widely, slapping each other on the back as they pulled each other into a tight man-hug.

"You're a great friend, Gray. Thank you. For everything."

Gray pulled away from the hug, grabbing his shirt out of the snow, "Glad to help, Man. You've been there for me too. That's why we're best….frenemies."

They walked side by side, following the footprints the others had left when they had left the boys to duke it out.

"You're still an asshole."

"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU ICE BASTARD!"

"MAKE ME, FLAME HEAD! AND BY THE WAY – POOKEY IS A STUPID, IDIOTIC NAME!"

They disappeared into the trees, completely oblivious to the sets of eyes that watched them ominously.


	24. Chapter 24

The rest of the group were dumbstruck at the awe-inspiring pace Natsu and Gray set for them on their way home. Having been on the road for months, they kept up nicely. They reached Magnolia in record time.

The townspeople parted for the group of seven, staring in awe at their majestic appearance. Natsu lead the group, face tightened in solid determination. Gray flanked him on the left, their long strides matching. Gajeel, Jellal, Erza, Levy and Juvia followed behind.

Natsu heard the whispers again. And again, he ignored them.

" _Natsu Dragneel – he's back!"_

" _He's such a hottie! Is he still single?"_

" _My mother said he once defeated a dragon!"_

" _They look so badass!"_

The doors to Fairy Tail burst open. Fairy Tail members paused, looking up from what they were doing, then erupting into cheers, welcoming their comrades back with open arms.

His friends were still in the process of hugging all the other members, but Natsu was determined. He marched through the hall, heading straight for the library, back into his little corner. He paused, listening carefully. There was no heartbeat.

Spinning on his heel, Natsu headed for his next guess: Lucy's old apartment. His comrades managed to wrestle themselves away from the other guild members and followed him.

The landlady was argumentative, but eventually agreed to let Natsu in the door. It was empty, the previous tenants having just moved out. He listened, the others remaining completely silent. There was no heartbeat.

Once again, he turned and left the apartment without a word, heading to his next idea – his fishing hole. He, Lucy and Happy had had a ton of good times there. He reached the clearing, the others clamouring to a halt behind him and listened. Nothing.

Natsu was still determined. He headed to the rainbow magnolia, sitting under its' branches and remembering the day he sent it down river when Lucy was sick. Still nothing.

Natsu searched everywhere he could think of in Magnolia until dark fell.

"Go home," he told his friends, "Let's sleep on it and try again in the morning."

Gajeel grabbed Levy's hand, "Okay, Natsu. We'll meet you at the guild first thing."

Natsu nodded, waving to his friends as they left him behind.

The corners of his mouth turned up a bit in a devious smile. _He knew where the key was._ It had dawned on him as they crossed places off on the long list of places he and Lucy had happy memories. Somehow, it just seemed fitting that the others should be able to go home to their own beds while he and Lucy had a private reunion first.

Natsu took his time walking back to his house, admiring the scenery and remembering all the fun he and Lucy had had. Every adventure always ended in the same place. He unlocked the door to his small house and stepped inside. Mira had done a fantastic job cleaning it up. The laundry was all picked up, washed and folded. There was nothing out of place at all.

He left the door wide open and crossed the room to the bed. Lucy's bed. His bed. Memories flitted across his mind. All the Lucy-kicks he'd received for the first few years every time she woke up and he was in the bed, cuddling her. After awhile, Lucy had stopped kicking him out. She actually _liked_ sleeping with him. He remembered all the times he held her in his arms while she cried after bad things happened. He remembered her nursing him to health when he'd been sick…in that bed. In turn, he had been _her_ nurse at times. He remembered the late-night slumber parties with ridiculous amount of junk food they shared; movie nights that usually ended up as pillow fights. Sometimes, they just laid in the bed and talked for no reason. Other times, there were tickle fights. And again, the thing that had brought him to the realization of where the key was: _EVERY_ adventure always ended in that bed. It wasn't over until they could both topple over in it for a good sleep.

A tear left his eye as he approached it, anticipation running through his veins. He heard it softly at first, then louder as he approached the bed.

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

"Hi Baby," he whispered, dropping to his knees, "I found you."

He looked under the bed first, amazed that Mira had even been underneath the bed when she cleaned up. There was nothing there.

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

He stripped the bed, tossing the sheets and blankets behind him, but being careful that he didn't miss the key if it was between the sheets or under the inside one of the blankets.

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

He smiled, "You're impatient too, aren't you, Babe?"

Thump...Thump...thump...thump.

Having searched the bed thoroughly, Natsu knew there was only one answer, "We'll get a new one, Luce," he said quietly.

Body lighting up with fire, Natsu drew in a breath, releasing his attack directly onto the bed.

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

Thump…thump…thump…thump…

The material of the bed began to burn away. Natsu's eyes filled with tears as he could now prominently smell her strawberry-vanilla scent. He choked on his tears, falling to his knees, watching in awe as the fire burned a hole in the very middle.

A platinum key rose out of the centre. It was larger than the zodiac keys, about 6 – 8 inches long. A beautiful insignia outlined the edges of it.

" _That's so Lucy_ ," he thought to himself.

Light burst from the key, illuminating the roof in a bright, beautiful light, effectively squelching the flames beneath.

The key came to a stop a metre above the bed, suspended in mid-air.

"Luce," Natsu whispered. He rose to his feet and took a deep breath, reaching out for the key…..

….and that's when all hell broke loose.


	25. Chapter 25

Sorano disappeared out of Natsu's house as fast as she had appeared.

"I've got it!" she yelled to Rustyrose.

A sour grin spread over his face as she joined him high up in the tree, "Excellent. Now, we get our thugs to take out the idiots following us."

As if on cue, demons rose from the ground, "I can't believe they thought they could vanquish the House of Dorthos and not think their brother guild, the House of Aranthos would not rise to avenge their brothers."

"Not good!" Gray yelped, watching the disgusting scene. They demons were black, much like the others they had seen from Dorthos, but these demons were larger. Gobs of tar dripped down their bodies, reminiscent of the tar that kept Lucy's keys locked in the spirit world all those years ago.

"Fairy Tail, we have incoming!" Gajeel yelled backward. Gray's demon slayer arm charged up as Gajeel and Laxus flanked him.

Gajeel, Gray and Laxus headed the charging army of the entire Fairy Tail Guild as Sorano and Rustyrose watched from the treetop high above.

"Summon her!" he demanded, "We need to make the contract now!"

She paused, glancing down at the ground as Natsu exited his house, letting loose a blood-curling scream. He was beyond pissed…and he would kill them if he found them in order to get the key back.

"We need to go!" she told Rustyrose, "Natsu will find us here!"

Wanting to argue, or even better yet, smack the shit out of her for disobeying, Rustyrose emitted a low growl. She was right though. They could hide from the battling Fairy Tail members since they were too distracted fighting demons to be looking at tree tops, but Natsu Dragneel was not fighting demons. He had one sole purpose – finding the key.

"Okay, let's go!" he said roughly, grabbing her wrist and chucking her to the next tree.

Sorano cried out, a branch scratching her back as she landed.

"Keep moving!" he demanded, watching Natsu out of the corner of his eye.

"SORANO!" Natsu thundered from below.

Sorano shivered, but she wasn't actually sure if it was because of Natsu looking for her or the fact that Rustyrose had just joined her in the tree and was preparing to make his next move.

Rustyrose stared down at Natsu, "We need to move faster. PEGASUS WINGS!"

He grabbed Sorano by the waist and lifted into the air.

"I don't think so!" Natsu yelled from the ground as he spotted them, "FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"

Caught in his direct line of fire, Rustyrose dropped Sorano and fell to the ground about 30 feet away from her.

"You want to play, dragon boy? Let's play," he said in a low voice.

"What happened to you?" Natsu demanded, "You were given a second chance! Crime Sorciere gave you a chance to redeem yourself! Why are you doing this?"

Rustyrose's eyes were flared with anger, "I never wanted to be part of that stupid guild!" he yelled, "But I had a lot better chance escaping it than prison!"

"What's your game plan?" Natsu's body lit up, his eyes dark, "Why do you want Lucy's key?"

Rustyrose laughed, "You really think I'll tell you why? Do you think I _care_ if you know why I want the key? Move aside, Dragneel! I've got a Celestial spirit to make a contract with."

Natsu's eyes widened, his gaze quickly darting to Sorano, who was sprawled on the ground. It made sense now. Rustyrose was going to use Sorano, who was a Celestial mage at one point, to summon Lucy and bind her to a contract.

"BASTARD!" Natsu screamed, charging him, his whole body absorbed in fire.

Rustyrose yelled out, "JET BLACK SWORD!" He swung it at Natsu, anger vibrating through him as Natsu jumped over the attack and kept coming.

Natsu was powering up as he stormed across the battlefield and Rustyrose was suddenly a bit nervous.

"Bring it," he told Natsu with a dark gleam in his eye, "Because you don't stand a chance against my SACRED GUARDIAN BEAST – BELFAST THE HURRICANE!"

An enormous roar sounded, pausing some of the fighting around them as Belfast emerged from thin air. Rustyrose took the opportunity to start running, suddenly realizing he had a lame leg from one of Natsu's attacks. He grabbed Sorano from the ground, pushing her ahead into the forest.

Natsu stared Belfast down, "You're uuuuuugly!"

Belfast roared again, swiping at Natsu. Natsu jumped, powering up to do a Dragon Roar when suddenly Gajeel dropped down beside him.

"I've got this! Go after Rustyrose!"

Natsu nodded, pounding his friend's fist before taking off to the forest.

"Flame-Brain is right…you are one ugly son-of-a-bitch!" Gajeel chuckled, raising his fist, "Let's see what you've got!"

Natsu was dodging fighting bodies as he bolted after Rustyrose and Sorano. Ahead of him, he saw a gigantic ice wall emerge out of nowhere, effectively trapping them inside the battleground.

Natsu grinned, mentally making a note to thank the Ice Prick later.

"You're trapped again," he said in a low voice, "Give me the key."

"Natsu, have you met the House of Aranthos yet? They would be the brother guild of Dorthos…you know…the one Lucy annihilated?"

Natsu was attacked from four different directions at once, being pushed down to the ground. He lost no time in fighting back, but there were too many.

"Be careful!" he heard a demon hiss, "This one is END. We need to kill him quickly."

Natsu paused, remembering the demons from the House of Dorthos had said the same thing. What did it mean? END was gone.

 _You can't really get rid of what composes you._

Nodding, he threw the demons off his back, "Thank you Hisui!" he whispered.

Natsu closed his eyes and called from every space of his body…calling END's power. END was gone, but if his theory was right and Hisui _was_ giving him a hint, then END could never be separated from his body completely.

He felt the familiar rush coursing through his veins and let out a feral roar, sending the demons around him scampering for cover. He felt stronger.

When he opened his eyes, they were blood shot red. Grinning widely, Natsu went to work smashing the surrounding demons to smithereens before turning once again to Rustyrose.

"So you figured it out," Rustyrose cackled. The men circled each other. Rustyrose realized his demon lackeys were being defeated rather badly now. He had to take Sorano and get out of there if there was any chance of their plan still succeeding, "END the demon is gone, but his blood still courses through your veins."

"I'm still me," Natsu replied hotly, "Give me back the key."

"I don't think so," Rustyrose glared at him.

Sorano screamed, running back into the fray of the battle. Natsu and Rustyrose squared off.

Suddenly, Rustyrose laughed out loud, "I don't have time for this. SACRED-GUARDIAN BEAST: BELCUSAS THE THUNDERCLAP."!

Another gigantic monster materialized, angrily bellowing its need to destroy.

He laughed maniacally, "I'm finding Sorano and blowing this popsicle stand," he announced, "Have fun, Dragneel!"

It took Natsu one blow to destroy the monster. END's energy flowed through him, spurring him on. He recognized the hunger for power. He emitted a powerful earthquake spell, essentially moving the magma underneath the earth. The demons in the area recognized END's appearance from his spell, suddenly deciding they were all going to die if they continued with battle.

"You're on your own!" one of them yelled to Rustyrose.

"Hey!" Rustyrose yelled, fisting the air, "Traitors! What about your brothers? I paid you good money!"

Fairy Tail's confused mages looking around, then breaking out into cheers as they realized the demons were gone.

Natsu kneeled, willing END to return to sleep. His comrades could not see him like this. They would be frightened of him again and he just couldn't bear the thought. Feeling the surges of END's blood calming down, Natsu stood up.

Fairy Tail had Sorano cornered. It was time to get his key back.


	26. Chapter 26

Sorano was running as fast as she could. She knew the Ice Mage and the Iron Dragon slayer were right behind her as she darted through the trees. They had an advantage. They knew these trees. If she didn't hurry up and ditch them, Rustyrose would do worse than beat and rape her.

"That's far enough!" Jellal said firmly, a long line of mages by his side.

About 40 Fairy Tail mages lined the edge of the forest. As she stopped in a dead halt, she glanced around her in panic. The mages closed in on her in a circle.

"Explain yourself,"Jellal demanded, stepping in to the circle.

"He's going to kill me!" Sorano started freaking out, "Just let him have the key and he'll leave you all alone! I swear it!"

"That key belongs to me!" Natsu roared as he too stepped inside the circle. He snatched the key out of her hands, cradling it lovingly, before turning his dark red eyes to Sorano, "You have two seconds to explain to me why I shouldn't fry you right here."

Sorano was hyperventilating with panic, "He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me!"

"I _can't_ kill you," a new voice said from above. Rustyrose was in a tall tree, overlooking the entire guild of Fairy Tail, "I _need_ you to summon the Heartfilia bitch first and turn her to our side. The new Grimoire Heart will have her power behind us. And Fairy Tail will rue the day they fucked with us!"

He waved his arm, "ARC OF EMBODIMENT!"

Instantly a metal cage fell on top of the Fairy Tail mages, effectively locking them inside. He used the spell a 2nd time to bind them.

"Get the key and get your ass out here," he told Sorano.

Sorano apologized with her eyes before she took the key from Natsu, slipping out of the bars with her Angel magic.

"Now do it!" Rustyrose ordered, "Call her!"

Sorano raised the key, "OPEN – GATE OF THE –"

"Go on!" Rustyrose yelled, "What the hell is the hold up?"

"I-I don't know her classification!" Sorano stuttered, backing up as Rustyrose approached her, smacking her across the face and sending her sprawling,

"Then you'd better fucking figure it out!" he thundered.

Gajeel was eating through the bars, letting the members of Fairy Tail free as Rustyrose attacked Sorano again. The cage fell apart and disintegrated.

He raised his hand again to strike Sorano when he realized his wrist was caught by Laxus, an angry Elfman glaring behind him. Dodging Laxus's attack, Rustyrose pivoted, snatching the key from Sorano's hand and holding it high above his head.

"I'll break it!" he yelled, effectively freezing everyone in their spots, "I'll fucking break it and your little Lucy will be lost to you forever!"

"You wouldn't dare," Elfman snarled, advancing on him, "That's unmanly, even for you!"

"You're dead the second you do," Gajeel agreed.

Fairy Tail surrounded him.

"You just made your last mistake," Laxus told him, winding up and punching him clear across the clearing.

Gray was waiting for him there, using his demon arm to wind up and smack him back to Elman's feet. Elfman transformed, growling ferociously as he picked Rustyrose up by the neck.

The key dropped from Rustyrose's hand and landed straight in front of Sorano. Sorano bent to pick it up, carefully weighing her options.

"Natsu!" Jellal yelled, "Go get the key!"

Natsu nodded, a small group of mages following him to surround Sorano. He pulled his fist back, anger blazing in his eyes. Her eyes were wide with terror.

He stopped, watching her face.

"She's been bullied into this," Juvia said, pulling down Natsu's fist.

Natsu nodded, extending his hand out flat.

Sorano placed the key in his hand, trembling in fear.

"You wanna tell me how you even knew about the key?" Natsu asked, anger still flaring in his voice.

"W-we were at my sister's," Sorano stuttered, "She took a phone call in the kitchen. It wasn't my idea! I didn't know he'd do this, honest I didn't! I had no choice!"

"He won't hurt you anymore," Levy promised, helping her up, "but you still have to answer for your crimes. There is _always_ a choice when it comes to choosing right from wrong."

"And this time, Crime Sorciere isn't going to help you," Jellal added.

Behind him, Elfman had Rustyrose pretty much rolled up into a ball.

Romeo pumped his fist triumphantly, "I'm going to get the Royal Guard!"

Natsu ran a finger down the platinum key affectionately.

The crowd was dispersing, taking the two troublesome mages away to meet the Royal Guard.

"Are you okay?" Erza asked Natsu.

He nodded, "I almost lost her again. And I hadn't even really gotten her back yet. How did you guys know?"

"We were followed throughout our whole journey," Gray supplied, "We've known since we ran into Jellal in Crocus. When you were so anxious to go home alone, we figured it out pretty quick."

"We knew about Sorano, but not Rustyrose," Gajeel added, "But when we followed you to your house, I smelled him."

"I've been suspicious for awhile," Jellal continued, "Even with Crime Sorciere taking breaks between bringing down dark guilds, Rustyrose wasn't acting right. More than that, I started noticing the way Sorano has been acting. She's been hiding bruises for months."

"Is it true that if Sorano had called Lucy out, Lucy would've been theirs?"

"Probably," Levy said, "You have to make a contract with Lucy in order to make her yours. If Sorano had called her out first…."

Natsu put a hand up to stop her from finishing the sentence.

"The sooner you make the contract with her, the better," Master Makarov said, joining the remaining mages in the small circle.

"If you want to do it alone, we'll understand," Mira placed a hand on Natsu's arm.

He looked from face to face. These people were his and Lucy's family. They had been supportive of them for all these years. He wondered briefly what Lucy would want and instantly knew the answer.

"No," he said, his trademark grin gracing his face, "I have a feeling I know exactly how Luce would want to handle this."


	27. Chapter 27

The guild hall was immaculate. The beer tables had been cleared away in lieu of rows and rows of white chairs. Large white streamers suspended from every corner of the guild. Flower petals rained from the ceiling, courtesy of the local flower mage.

Sting and Yukino had brought out the entire Sabertooth Guild. Even Princess Hisui and her father Tomo were there. Cana and Gildarts had come home just for this event, Gildarts smiling at his protégé mage. At the front of the guild, Master Makarov stood proudly at the altar. Gray, Gajeel, Laxus and Jellal stood to one side; Levy, Juvia, and Erza on the other. Realizing she had to stop staring at the pictures on the wall, Mira hurried to take her place up there too.

Along the edges of the outer walls, large framed pictures of Jet, Lisanna, Wakaba and Nab lined the walls as it seemed only right that _everyone_ should be there. Mira wiped away her tears as she regarded her sister's picture. She would be so proud today.

The music started and Natsu Dragneel entered the hall. He looked sharp. His face was clean-shaven, his pink locks tamed. He wore a white suit with a black shirt and his signature scarf. He knew Lucy wouldn't have it any other way. He walked down the aisle, joining the others on the stage and pausing to take in the crowd that had gathered.

He stood before Master Makarov.

"We will take a moment to pay our fallen guild members our respects," the Master started, nodding toward the pictured wall, "Two minutes of silence please."

Nobody moved or made a sound the entire two minutes, everyone reflecting on the events of the past 2 ½ years.

The Master nodded as time expired, and Natsu pulled out the key.

He raised the key.

"Open – Gate Of The –"

Suddenly, it was all too overwhelming. His voice choked, tears exploding from his eyes. He cleared his throat nervously and wiped away the tears on his face, embarrassed amidst laughter from the crowd.

"It's okay, Natsu," Makarov said in a low voice, "We all know how you've waited for this. Take your time."

Natsu sniffed, accepting a Kleenex from Levy and wiped the tears off his face.

Taking a deep breath, he tried again.

"Open – Gate Of The –"

He paused again.

"What's the matter?" Makarov asked.

"Remember when Sorano tried to open the gate and didn't know Lucy's classification?" Natsu replied. The guild gasped, anxious whispering ensuing.

"It's okay!" Natsu called out, "I've got this."

He paused again, looking out over the crowd at the faces of the guild he loved so much.

"Thank you," he said to them, his voice full of the love that he was feeling right then. The members of Fairy Tail nodded as he glanced at each individual face, pausing a bit long over the faces of the ones who stood at the altar with him. Gray. His best frenemy. Gajeel. The brawn for when he couldn't be brawny on his own. Jellal. The protector from the shadows. Levy. The best friend/shoulder to cry on. Juvia. The voice of support. Erza. Big sister and justice keeper. Mira. Gentle supporter. Laxus. The leader. Makarov. The eternal master and father figure.

Nodding to them with his silent message of "I couldn't have done it without you", Natsu stuck out his arm, yelling at the top of his lungs, "OPEN! GATE OF THE ONE LOVE – LUCY HEARTFILIA!"

The familiar DING DONG was heard and there was a bright light emitted across the guild that was positively blinding. As the light faded from the back of the hall forward, Natsu recognized the Celestial King and his beautiful wife, Atria, standing arm in arm. All of Lucy's Celestial spirits stood with them: Loke, Cancer, Taurus, Aries, Scorpio, the Gemini twins, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Capricorn. Looking behind them, Natsu realized Aquarius was there too. She nodded approvingly and Natsu felt tears stinging his eyes. She finally had given her love and approval to both of them. As the light faded in front of him, he got his first look at his beloved bride.

He took her in his arms instantly, unable to contain his whole body sobs. Lucy's body convulsed with his and wet tears threatened to ruin her make up. They stoked each other's hair and faces and they bawled, causing the rest of the guild to become unhinged too. He placed small, wet kisses over her tears.

Natsu smiled, taking the vision in. Lucy's knee length hair was pinned to the top of her head, cascading down in spiral curls. A diamond tiara adorned her head. She wore a silver, shimmering Celestial dress. Diamond heels adorned her feet.

"I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life," he whispered to her, the waterworks starting all over again.

"Me neither," she replied.

"You're never gonna cry again," he promised.

They looked at their family. Every last one of them were down on one knee, proudly displaying the Fairy Tail signal to welcome Lucy home. Lucy burst into tears again, her happiness at being reunited with her family and Natsu catching up to her all over again.

 _Even if I cant see you... no matter how far away you may be... I will always be watching you._

"Ok…I lied. _After today_ , you will never cry again," Natsu enveloped her in his arms, crying with her.

"Hey – you gonna get hitched or what?" Gildarts yelled.

He stepped back from her, taking her hands in his, "Wanna marry me?"

She grinned back, "I thought you'd never ask."

They laughed together at their own private joke.

"Okay, so we all know why we're here today, blah, blah, blah, blah," Makarov started, "But at the risk of starting the blubbering all over again, I will say this: Lucy Heartfilia: I have never been happier to see a child of mine come home."

The entire guild burst into new tears yet again, Natsu and Lucy resuming their 'is this really happening' hugs.

Gray wiped away a tear from his eyes, catching Gajeel doing the same. Both mages looked quickly away from each. _If you didn't see it, it didn't happen._

Makarov paused for the aftermath of his statement to pass before continuing, "Natsu has opted to make his contract with you in front of all of us. Do you accept this?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she whispered, sniffing her tears away, "My family. I love you all so much. Thank you for supporting Natsu and bringing me home."

Natsu laughed nervously again, wiping his own tears away once more before looking deep into her eyes, "Lucy, I have no idea how to make a contract. So I'm winging it."

"So wing it already!" Sting called out, making the guild laugh.

"A wise person once told us it only takes single spark in the darkness for it not to be dark anymore…or something like that. You are the spark in my darkness. As long as I have you, there isn't anything I can't do. You're my best friend, my confidante, and my partner for life. I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you, if you'll have me. Another wise person told me once that 'you can't really get rid of what composes you'. You compose me, Luce. You are my inspiration. I could not love you more. Do you remember that night? I won't specify which night. You'll either remember or you won't. I told you you'd be lost without me."

Lucy squeezed his hands, tears running down her face, "I _was_ lost without you."

He laughed, fighting back the flood gates once more, "But it goes both ways. I was lost too. Ask anyone here. I lost myself without you. I can't live without you, Luce. I'm a mess without you. A useless, blubbering mess."

He hugged her tightly, only reluctantly letting her go when the Celestial Queen made her way down the aisle. Her presence was majestic.

She reached for the key, holding it up for all to see, "I, Atria, Celestial Queen, hereby terminate my contract with Lucy Heartfilia and relinquish her to Natsu Dragneel. May you both have long, loving lives. And thank you. Thank you for everything you've accomplished together. We are indebted to you."

The Celestial Queen got down on one knee, bowing deeply before them, presenting the key to Natsu. He took it gratefully, smiling gently at his bride. The entire Celestial crowd followed suit, even the Celestial King. Finally, she rose and retreated to her place beside her King.

"The contract is binding," Makarov said firmly, "By agreeing to the contract, you agree to love each other for the rest of your lives, regardless of time, distance, and Natsu's idiotic mistakes. Do you both agree to these terms?"

"I do," Natsu said, looking deep into Lucy's eyes.

"I do," Lucy repeated.

"Then by the power invested in me by these bastards that won't let me retire, I now pronounce you Natsu and Lucy Dragneel!" Makarov announced.

The crowd erupted into cheers. Natsu ran a hand down his bride's face, cupping her chin gently.

"I love you yesterday, today, and every tomorrow to come," he whispered before smashing his lips against hers.

The crowd's cheers resumed again, louder than before. It would remain loud for the rest of the night and well into the next morning.

The world was right again.

Natsu's Lucy was finally home.

And she was finally his…for the rest of eternity.

Oh…and she LOVED the name Pookey.


	28. A Note From ShanaHollows

_**Post Note from ShanaHollows**_

 _So wow! This story went up fast. It's been at the back of my mind for 3 days now, practically writing itself._

 _Thank you for all the likes, reviews and follows. I wasn't sure if people would like it or not. All I knew was that I needed to get this story down on paper._

 _I seriously thought about ending the story at Chapter 13, but kind of felt like Natsu and Lucy deserved their happy ending. What do you think? I also did some revamping of the last 3 chapters to tie the story together in a neat little bow._

 _Hopefully you loved this story as much I do. I can finally say I'm satisfied with it._

 _FanFiction has a lot of really talented writers. I love reading your stories and I hope you might get a little enjoyment out of mine as well._

 _As with everyone else, I enjoy receiving comments and opinions!_

 _Seeya next time!_

 _~ShanaHollows~_


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